Gita Kapoor

Infobox EastEnders character 2


character_name=Gita Kapoor
actor_name=Shobu Kapoor
years=1993–1997, 1998
first=18 February 1993
last=24 September 1998
dob=
status=Married
family=
sisters= Meena McKenzie
husband = Sanjay Kapoor
daughters = Sharmilla Kapoor
sons=Arjun Kapoor
occupation=Market trader

Gita Kapoor was a fictional character in the popular BBC soap opera "EastEnders". She was played by Shobu Kapoor.

Gita had a fierce temper, which was needed to keep her troublesome husband in check. Any success they achieved was down to her. She was the brains behind the Kapoor's clothes business.

Background

Gita was the wife of Sanjay and she was first seen in Albert Square in February 1993.

Gita's husband had been left a clothing business by his parents when they moved to India. However Sanjay had proven himself to be a poor businessman and after some bad monetary investments, his business had gone bankrupt. Gita, who was heavily pregnant, had been forced to live with her sister, Meena, while Sanjay desperately tried to find them a place to live. Sanjay came to the Square to ask his friend, Richard Cole, to give him a permanent pitch on the market that he ran.

Sanjay was a compulsive gambler and could never resist an opportunity to make a quick buck. Unfortunately all the chances he took rarely paid off, so Gita was often forced to sort out the mess that he'd gotten them into. His arrival in the Square was no exception, and after gambling away the deposit for a flat they intended to buy, Gita was forced to move in with Richard Cole. This was far from ideal, particularly as Gita didn't like Richard very much. After more gambling, Sanjay finally managed to secure the funds for a flat at 43B Albert Square. That same day, Gita went into labour and typically, Sanjay was nowhere to be seen in her hour of need. She ended up giving birth to a girl, Sharmilla, with Richard holding her hand through the ordeal.

Whilst Sanjay ran the clothing stall, Gita initially kept herself busy at home, hiring herself out as a massage therapist. Whilst doing this she became good friends with a client, Cindy Beale. Cindy had few friends on the Square, so she relished having someone to disclose all her sordid little secrets to. Gita was often used as a foil for Cindy to escape her husband so she could embark on her extramarital affairs. Later on Gita became good friends with Ruth Fowler, as both their husbands were market traders.

Betrayal

Gita found parenthood quite stressful at first. Sanjay was no help whatsoever and so her snooty sister, Meena, decided to come and stay with the Kapoors for a while, under the pretence she was there to help. Actually, she had fallen out with her husband, Jerry, and she needed somewhere to stay. Meena was a snob, she had married into money and deemed herself better in every way to her sister. Meena and Sanjay had never got along and she always ended up causing problems whenever she was around.

Throughout the year Meena would show up regularly for visits, often spying on Sanjay and informing Gita of his troublesome exploits, which usually involved gambling. Sanjay's money making schemes often meant that he would leave Gita at home tending the baby alone. She began to suffer from post-natal depression and started to become extremely suspicious of Sanjay. To make matters worse, she had discovered a restaurant receipt for a champagne meal for two in Sanjay's pocket. When she confronted Sanjay, he laughed off her paranoia and claimed the meal was with a business associate. Gita was not convinced, and after seeing him and Michelle Fowler liaising together, she began to think that she was the other woman (actually Sanjay was only giving her driving lessons). Furious, Gita went to confront Michelle in The Queen Vic and told her to keep away from her husband. Bizarrely, it was Meena who rushed to Sanjay's defence and eventually convinced Gita that Sanjay was not capable of committing adultery. Feeling embarrassed by her outburst, Gita decided she needed a break from Walford, so at the end of the year she left Sharmilla in Sanjay's care and went to stay with a relative.Sanjay was hopeless at caring for Sharmilla, and so he contacted Meena to come and help him out. In January 1994, Gita arrived home early from her vacation. As she crept into her flat she was shocked by the sight that greeted her - Sanjay and Meena laying naked and asleep, in her bed. Gita suddenly realised that Meena was the 'other woman' and she snatched Sharmilla and took refuge at Michelle's. When Sanjay awoke the next morning and saw his baby gone, he immediately guessed that Gita had been there. He and Meena agreed to pretend that their affair was a one off and they were so drunk that nothing actually happened anyway. Gita was no fool however, and wouldn't believe a word of it. She disowned her sister, and threw Sanjay out. She then set about trying to get revenge on them both. She refused Sanjay access to both the market stall and Sharmilla and she also informed Meena's husband about the affair. A furious Jerry then came to confront Sanjay, and after much goading Sanjay admitted that the affair had been going on for months, at least 3 or 4 nights a week. Gita was later furious to discover that in spite of everything, Jerry was willing to forgive Meena and even worse, they were going on a second honeymoon whilst her marriage was in ruins. Feeling guilty, Jerry wrote Gita a compensatory cheque, much to Meena's annoyance. After seeking legal advice, Gita realised that Sanjay would have rights to see their child so she then decided to leave Walford, without telling Sanjay where she was going.

Return

Months later, when Gita had run out of money, she returned to Albert Square and forced Sanjay out of their flat again. Gita was adamant that she was not getting back together with Sanjay, but she realised she needed his help if she was going to bring up her daughter the way she wanted. Their business was in a mess since her departure, so she set about sorting things out and she finally allowed Sanjay access to Sharmilla. They shared parental duties and took turns running the stall. This led Sanjay to think that it would only be a matter of time before he and Gita would be back together. However, with Meena still visiting Gita in an effort to be reconciled with her, it was not proving to be easy.

Gita would not forgive Sanjay for his infidelity and she bitterly reminded him of it every time she saw him. However, later that year she became the target of a racist attack and so she begrudgingly began to lean on Sanjay for assistance. Her door was graffitied, and she even had dog faeces posted through her letter box. Later her window was smashed and she was even assaulted on the street. She became petrified and refused to go outside for fear of being attacked. To make matters worse, she was receiving prank calls regularly. Sanjay was furious that his wife was being subjected to such vile racism and he became hell bent on uncovering the people who were doing it. He eventually managed to catch the perpetrators in the act - a gang of vicious yobs. He managed to grab hold of one and started to punch him to the ground, just when a police car pulled up. Sanjay was then arrested, while the yob escaped. After a night in a cell, he was eventually released with a caution. The incident appeared to stir some worry in Gita and on Christmas day they eventually reconciled and spent the night together. Gita was quick to remind Sanjay that their night of passion was just about sex, but During 1995 they continued to meet up regularly and eventually Gita was persuaded to give their marriage another shot.In September of that year, Sanjay was forced to return to India to tend to his dying grandfather. This left Gita to run the stall as she saw fit. She was soon approached by a smooth talking businessman, named Guppy Sharma, who was hoping to put a good deal her way. It soon became clear that Guppy was interested in more than just business and Gita was extremely flattered by the attention he was giving her. After many dinner dates (allegedly to discuss business), Gita was persuaded to give his clothing stock a try on her stall. It was a huge success and the items sold well. Guppy was a man of mystery and he would often disappear for weeks on end without a word. Gita was left flummoxed by his behaviour. Soon after Gita was visited by Guppy's ex-employer. Guppy had stolen all his stock - the stock that Gita had just sold! Gita then became extremely suspicious of Guppy, but he managed to persuade her that he was genuine, and not out to fleece her too. Just as it looked as if the two were about to kiss, Meena walked in! It turned out that Meena had split with Jerry and Guppy was her new fiancée. She had instructed him to put business to Gita, in a last ditch attempt at a reconciliation with her. She was none too pleased to discover that he had actually been trying to seduce her instead. Gita then wanted nothing more to do with Guppy, but upon Sanjay's return he was persuaded to invest in a dodgy deal orchestrated by him. This proved to be a mistake as Guppy was just a conman, and after fleecing him for £2000 he did a runner, leaving Sajay paying extortionate interest to a loan shark. Gita was once again forced to sort out her husband's mess.

IVF and further adultery

In 1996 Sanjay and Gita decided to try for another baby. However, no matter how hard they tried, Gita couldn't conceive. Sanjay assumed that the problem lay with Gita, but a subsequent trip to Dr. Legg confirmed that she was in complete working order. This meant that the problem must be with Sanjay and subsequent tests revealed that he had a low sperm count. Sanjay was devastated by this news, as he felt it compromised his masculinity. Gita assured him that it did not matter and that she would always love him, and so they decided to try IVF. As the waiting list on the national health was 3 years long, they decided to go private. This proved extremely expensive however - £3,000 a go! After their first attempt failed they were unable to pay for more treatment, and so Gita started to became extremely depressed. Things weren't helped when Sanjay's mother, Neelam, came over from India to live with them later that year. Gita and Neelam regularly clashed, and Neelam often made it clear that Gita was not good enough for her son. After much sniping Gita could finally take no more and in October 1997, she announced she was taking Sharmilla away to visit her sister for a while.

In January 1998 Gita and Sharmilla were finally due to arrive home. Sanjay had planned to collect them from the station, but after getting involved in yet another dodgy business deal, he was late for their rendezvous. When he arrived Gita was nowhere to be seen. Days went by and still there was no sign of Gita or Sharmilla, so Sanjay was forced to contact the police. Months passed but still no word from Gita and coincidental evidence had led the police to think that Sanjay may have been responsible for her disappearance. He was even arrested and accused of her murder, although he was later released without charge. Everyone came to assume that Gita and Sharmilla were dead.

However, in July that year, Gita contacted Ruth Fowler. She was living in Birmingham and was in desperate need of some money, although she wouldn't divulge the reason why. She made Ruth promise not to tell Sanjay that she'd been in contact. Inevitably, Sanjay found out, and he, Ruth and Mark Fowler went to Birmingham to track her down. After much digging they discovered that a woman matching Gita's description had been taken away in an ambulance the night before. They went straight to the hospital and were shocked to discover Gita there, carrying a new born baby boy in her arms. She divulged that she had fallen pregnant after a one-night-stand and instead of returning to face Sanjay, she had run away. The father had since abandoned her and now she was all alone. Sanjay was furious, but after much soul-searching he decided that he could be a loving father to her new child, Arjun, and he eventually decided to give their relationship another go.

Sanjay and Gita were happy for a short while, until the local reporter, Polly Becker, discovered their recent scandal. After secretly taping confessions from both Sanjay and Ruth, she wrote up their shocking story and it was published in the Walford Gazette. Suddenly the whole of Walford knew what had transpired in Gita's absence. From then on both Sanjay and Gita were hounded by reporters and Sharmilla began to get bullied at school. The Kapoors then decided that the only option was to leave Walford to start again somewhere else. Their last appearance was in September 1998.

External links

*EEcharlink|gita_k