Amira Masood

Amira Shah
EastEnders character
Amira in 2009
Portrayed by	Preeya Kalidas
Duration	2009—2010, 2011-
First appearance	7 May 2009
Classification	Returning; regular
Introduced by	Diederick Santer (2009) Bryan Kirkwood (2011)
In-universe information Occupation Caterer and beautician Father Qadim Shah Husband Syed Masood (2010—)

Amira Shah is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Preeya Kalidas. The girlfriend, and later wife, of Syed Masood (Marc Elliott), she first appeared on screen in the episode broadcast on 7 May 2009.

The character was described as high maintenance, lonely and insecure. Amira and Syed's wedding on 1 January 2010 was watched by an average of 11.64 million viewers. Although credited with the name Amira Masood on the BBC website after the wedding episode, actor Nitin Ganatra (on-screen father-in-law Masood Ahmed) has stated that according to naming convensions in Pakistani culture, her name should be Amira Syed.

Kalidas quit the show in January 2010 to concentrate on a career in music, filming her final scenes in March 2010. Her final episode was broadcast on 26 April 2010, after Amira discovered that her husband was gay and had been having an affair with Christian Clarke (John Partridge). She is due to return to EastEnders in autumn 2011.

Creation and development

Amira is introduced as the girlfriend of character Syed Masood, played by Marc Elliott. The character was described by actress Preeya Kalidas as "a bit of a socialite [who] kind of kicks up a bit of fuss in Albert Square." Elliot revealed that "she's a rich daddy's girl and it's hard not to make the association between Syed and money. There's certainly an honest attraction there and I think he does love her. But the money that her father has might be an additional aspect of their relationship. Amira comes in and ruffles a few feathers, especially [Syed's mother] Zainab's. Obviously with Syed being a mummy's boy, she has to have her say. I don't think Zainab would be happy with anyone that Syed's with — they'd have to be absolutely perfect. Mummy Masood will be doing a lot of meddling and locking horns with Amira." She has also been described as "very high maintenance", "spoilt and snobbish" and "a lonely and insecure girl". She makes her first on-screen appearance on 7 May 2009.

Syed and Amira go on to marry on 1 January 2010. They have a traditional Pakistani wedding featuring horses, drummers and dancers. Scriptwriters researched by watching videos of a real British Pakistani wedding. The wedding and its build-up were filmed over a two-week period, and Kalidas was in full costume for one of them, including make-up and mehndi designs on her hands, which took two and a half hours to apply each day. BBC Asian Network reporter Shabnam Mahmood, who advised on the wedding, revealed "the mehndi was done by Pavan – the fastest mehndi artist in the world." Amira's dress and scarf were handmade and the costume was bought in an Asian boutique in East London and sent to India for a fitting. Kalidas described it as "really heavy" due to its beading detail. She said: "Although I really loved the outfit, after day five I couldn't wait to take it off."

On 24 January 2010, it was announced that Kalidas had quit the show to concentrate on a career in music. According to Kalidas, her final scenes were filmed on 5 March and were shown on 26 April 2010. Kalidas teased about her exit the day it was transmitted. She told BBC News: "We were quite looking forward to this moment and we're both really excited about playing these scenes tonight. It was really emotional and really quite traumatic and really hard for us when we were doing it."

It was reported on 11 July 2011 that Kalidas would reprise her role as Amira from "autumn" 2011. A source for the show said, "Amira left Walford a heartbroken woman. When she finds out Syed is planning to marry Christian she is furious. Amira is manipulative and her presence looks set to turn the lives of the Masoods upside down. The question is, has she moved on from her husband or will she do whatever she can to get him back? Only time will tell."

Storylines

Backstory

Amira's backstory was revealed in an interview with Kalidas: "Amira doesn't have a mother, as she died when she was really young. She lives with her father, who's a big businessman — she met Syed through him. Her dad works in property, so Amira comes from wealth. One day her father just disappears, so she has no one else and her house is repossessed. She only has her clothes."

2009—

Amira is the girlfriend of Syed Masood (Marc Elliott), the son of established characters Masood Ahmed (Nitin Ganatra) and Zainab Masood (Nina Wadia). She arrives when Zainab invites her for dinner. Syed's brother Tamwar (Himesh Patel) reveals to Amira that Syed is not as successful as she believes. She insults the family and Masood asks her to leave, and her relationship with Syed ends. She returns a month later to meet Syed in the park, and they talk until he becomes suspicious of her. The next day she arrives unexpectedly, claiming her father Qadim (Ramon Tikaram) has disappeared and she is homeless. Syed attempts to hide her upstairs but her presence is soon known throughout the family. She then rents a room in a nearby flat. Still trying to get into Zainab's good books, Amira takes over at Bushra Abbasi's (Pooja Ghai) event and sings beautifully to the guests. She begins to get to know Albert Square and its residents, and gets a job at Tanya Branning's (Jo Joyner) beauty salon.

Syed proposes to Amira and she readily accepts. However, she soon confesses to Zainab that her father is in Pentonville Prison for fraud. Zainab is initially angry, but says that if she keeps Syed happy, the wedding will go ahead. Amira then starts planning for the wedding, and enlists a reluctant Christian Clarke (John Partridge) to help her. She tells Masood that he should not pay for her wedding to Syed and she is going to visit Qadim. When she does, he reacts badly to the news that she is engaged to Syed and refuses to give them his blessing. She gives him the option of either accepting him as her fiancé or that he will not be contacted again. She later takes money from his safety deposit box for the wedding without his knowledge, saying he has no need for it. She worries about her wedding when Christian goes to Spain and when she finds out her father's legal team has found a loophole in order to free him. During the Mehndi celebration, Amira is shocked to see that her father has walked in. The next day, she is forced to tell Zainab and Masood that Qadim did not give his blessing and she stole the money. Qadim arrives and Syed reveals they took the money but Amira interrupts and says it was her idea. Qadim orders her to pack her bags but she defies him. Qadim says he will expect the money in cash the next day and leaves, after which, Amira says the Masoods are her family now. Qadim comes back the next day and agrees to give his blessing and pay for the wedding after realising how much Masood has done for Amira. She marries Syed, not knowing that he has come out to his mother as gay and is in love with Christian.

After their honeymoon, Amira applies for work at The Queen Victoria public house and meets Danny Mitchell (Liam Bergin), who compliments her, but she realises she is not cut out for that work. She decides to go back to work at Masala Queen, the family's curry business, and when she is alone with Syed, she dresses up sexily in an attempt to seduce him, as they have still not consummated the marriage. Syed tells her to get dressed as anybody could see her, so she leaves. Danny finds her in the Square and they kiss. The next day she regrets it and tells Danny it was a stupid mistake. Amira sleeps on the sofa and tells Zainab it is because Syed kicks her in his sleep. She tells Chelsea Fox (Tiana Benjamin) she kissed another man and says she is still a virgin and assumes Syed is too, and Chelsea encourages her to tell Syed about the kiss. Amira and Syed talk and she thinks he does not find her attractive, and tells him that she kissed Danny. Syed says it is not that but he is nervous about sleeping with her. After Syed confronts Danny, Syed and Amira sleep together and talk about starting a family. After the birth of Syed's brother Kamil, Syed again talks about starting a family, but is shocked to discover Amira taking birth control tablets. She says a baby was Zainab's idea and she is not ready for the responsibility of motherhood, but Syed tells her he cannot trust her. They later both agree to wait to try for a baby, but after spending time with Kamil, Amira tells Syed she is feeling broody and throws away her tablets.

Amira starts working back at the salon, this time for Roxy Mitchell (Rita Simons), who has taken over. She receives a cheque for £5000 from her father and decides to use it to put a deposit on a flat to rent with Syed. Amira's increasing frustration with her husband's distance from her leads her to confide in Christian and ask for advice. Christian's advice works and Syed and Amira make love, which the next day Amira tells Christian was "perfect". Shortly after this Amira believes she could be pregnant so announces to the family that she is. Chelsea tells her to take a pregnancy test, but it is negative. Amira eventually admits to Syed that she is not pregnant, and as they decide to try for a baby again, Amira sees the words "Syed loves Christian" painted on a wall in their bedroom unaware it was painted by Lucy Beale (Melissa Suffield) She refuses to believe it, even after Syed and Christian tell her Syed is gay, and runs to the Masoods' house. Syed follows, and Zainab and Masood calm the situation until Christian arrives. Amira is unable to control her emotions and breaks down. Qadim demands to know why Amira is scared of Christian, so Syed reveals that he's a gay man in a sham marriage. As a heartbroken Amira packs her bags, Chelsea tells her that she got the pregnancy tests mixed up. Amira asks her to keep the pregnancy a secret, and as she drives out of Walford with her father, she clutches her stomach and smiles. Three days later, Qadim returns to Walford, looking for Syed, and reveals that Amira is unable to eat or drink due to the recent revelation.

Reception

The 1 January 2010 episode in which Syed marries Amira received overnight ratings of 11.64 million viewers, an average audience share of 39.3%. The final five minutes of the episode received a peak of 12.34 million viewers. The wedding was criticised by a writer for Asian Image, who said "With so much resources at hand they couldn't even get a Muslim wedding right. It was colourful and noisy but the priest couldn't speak the lingo properly and the wedding vows were all wrong. What was the priest doing sat between the bride and groom? At least attempt to make it as realistic as possible. It was Indian and then Pakistani – what on earth was going on! For a prime-time show which was watched by millions at least try to get as close to a real Pakistani Muslim wedding as possible. The whole thing reminded me of one of 1960s botched jobs put together by some middle-aged white man who 'thought it happened this way so it must!'"

External links

• Amira Masood at BBC Online