Emmerdale: Rishi Sharma tells Manpreet to move out

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Bhasker is best known to Emmerdale viewers as playing the patriarchal figure of the Sharma family, Rishi Sharma, the father of Jai Sharma (played by Chris Bisson), Priya Sharma (Fiona Wade) and Nikhil Sharma (Rik Makarem). The Hollywood actor was first introduced to the cast of the ITV soap back in 2011 along with his on-screen wife, Trudie Goodwin, who played Rishi’s ex-wife, Georgia Sharma. With his character’s children taking the spotlight with storylines in recent years, the actor has appeared less frequently although, he isn’t giving up yet despite his raging years.

How old is Emmerdale star Bhasker Patel?

According to the world of the Dales, Bhasker’s character Rishi is currently 72 years old, having been born on April 16, 1950.

With the show focusing on more dramatic storylines over the course of the pandemic, the character’s milestone 70th birthday was not marked.

However, this means the actor is substantially younger than his alter-ego, with Bhasker having celebrated his 66th birthday earlier this year.

The actor was born on February 7, 1956, making him just under six years younger than the character he plays on the show.

To mark the occasion this year, the soap star had drinks to celebrate as he posted about it on his Instagram page in view of his 17,000 followers.

The actor was born in Kampala, Uganda, although his parents were of Indian descent as they were involved with the British Raj.

This allowed Indians to move to other locations in the British Empire to set up businesses to provide income but at the age of six years old, he moved back to Gujarat in western India.

In wouldn’t be for another 11 years until he moved to Britain as this is where his father was based following the end of the British rule of India in 1962.

Speaking about moving to the UK, Bhasker said: “I think he felt it was his duty to bring up his only son in a way that he could take responsibility for the family.

“He wanted me to get a good education, and because we were born under British Raj, we were able to come here.”

Speed is of the essence

Bhasker Patel

“My mum said we would try it for a year and could go back to India if we didn’t like it,” the soap star continued to explain.

“We were excited, as it was a journey to the unknown, but we had this concept of Britain always being cold, with snow throughout the year.

“We had no idea what it was like. We lived in north London, and my father worked in a factory.

“I could not speak English very well. Unlike many children, the school I went to in India was a Gujarati Medium School,” he told All About Horsham Magazine.

It wasn’t until he was 25 years old did the actor make his debut on television, with his first role being in the BBC anthology series, Play for Today.

This was in 1981 and just a year later, he secured a guest role as Raam Patel in the children’s television series, Grange Hill.

Other shows he has been in have included Brookside between 1987 and 2002 and Pure Wickedness in 1999.

The soap star also appeared in several roles in various serial television dramas, including BBC’s Casualty and ITV’s The Bill.

In 2004, he starred in a Hollywood motion picture alongside the late Bill Paxton in the live-action remake of Thunderbirds.

By the time Bhasker joined the cast of the show over 10 years ago, he would have been 55 years old at the time, which worked well to allow him to become the head of the Sharma family.

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Speaking about the process behind being cast as Rishi, the actor said: “They were initially looking for Asian actors from Yorkshire or from the north of England, so I wasn’t called during the early casting sessions.

“Then my agent rang and told me they wanted to see actors from everywhere. At that time I had a huge beard because it gave me scope to play a lot of character parts.

“But this was a screen test and they said I would have to shave it off.

“About ten Asian actor hopefuls were there for a screen test for the father’s role, and ten actresses for the role of the mother.

“We did the screen test in front of multiple cameras, as they needed to see if, technically, you can take it all on board.”

“You have to be mindful of what camera is picking you up, at what point, and when the director wants you to move,” he continued.

“On a soap opera, speed is of the essence as we have to film six half hours of drama every week; you can’t hold things up.

“I was given the role of Rishi Sharma, with Trudie Goodwin as Georgia Sharma. Our sons were already established characters, so they introduced the father, mother and daughter to make a family.”

Despite his 70th birthday creeping up, it seems there is no let-up for Bhakser who has also filmed for a number of short films alongside playing Rishi on the weeknight serial drama.

Emmerdale airs weekdays at 7:30pm on ITV, with an hour-long episode airing on Thursdays.

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