Comedian and TV presenter Romesh Ranganathan has spoken of how his family’s life was turned upside down when his father, Ranga, was sent to prison for fraud
Comedian and TV star Romesh Ranganathan has recalled how his perfect upbringing was turned upside down when his dad Ranga who was imprisoned for fraud. Romesh was a teenager living in Crawley at the time and attending private school, when he and his younger brother and mother were forced to move out of the family home and live in a Bed & Breakfast for some time. Romesh recalled: “My dad had fallen into financial trouble. What it turns out is that he’d lost his job and he was trying to make money in this sort of Sri Lankan Del Boy way, and it wasn’t working out.
And he couldn’t keep up the mortgage repayments on their house. And they couldn’t afford, even with my scholarship, they still couldn’t afford the fees at this school I was going to.”
Matters came to a head when it became apparent Ranga had also been having an affair and when he disappeared for several days, Romesh was tasked with asking the ‘other women’ where his dad was, on behalf of his anxious mother. Romesh said: “She tells us that my dad had been arrested three days previously, and he had been involved in some sort of fraud case. I don’t know why we’d not heard, why he’d not got in touch, but this lady knew. “He ended up going to prison for two years, or just under two years. You know, I remember my dad being convicted and going to prison the day before my birthday. I think it’s my 15th birthday. And so my friends are having a party for me. I just went and pretended that wasn’t going on because you want some normalcy. “Because for a while, we moved out of the house, and then a counsellor gave us a room in a bed and breakfast.” Romesh told Lauren Laverne on Desert Island Discs that he would regularly hear his mum crying in this period, and she managed to provide for her sons by getting a job as a cleaner. His father did come back to the family home when he was released from prison and they patched up their relationship over time. Romesh said: “On my dad’s 60th birthday, by that time, our relationship had really kind of improved. I’d had kids at that point, and I saw the way that my dad was being with my children.
I was like, I’ve never seen this side of my dad, and we’re in a really good place. My memory of my dad is of like a flawed tornado.”
His parents came to the UK from Sri Lanka and Romesh pays tribute to his mother Sivashanthini – known as Shanthi – who kept the family together during his father’s absence. Romesh admits that he didn’t appreciate the sacrifices she made at the time.
Shanthi has since gone on to appear alongside her son on television where she has proved to be a funny and observant sidekick. Romesh believes his late father would have been proud of Shanthi’s role as, what he laughingly describes as, “one of the safest hands in British comedy.”
He speaks openly on the Radio 4 programme about his struggles with mental health which started around the time he took his A-Levels. He tells Lauren that he has thought about taking his own life more than once and explains that he saw it as a solution to his emotional turmoil. He reveals that he’s experienced serious dark periods at several points during his life but has learned how to manage those times. He says that he talks about the experiences he has been through on stage but explains that talking about it comes with responsibility. “You got to be careful because it’s triggering,” he said. “I’m trying to destigmatise (mental health) but you do also have to be mindful of the fact that people may have been affected by that and then if I suddenly say I had thoughts about taking my own life and somebody’s lost someone through that or they’ve had those moments themselves, you have to be sensitive to that and you don’t always get it right but I think the rewards outweigh the risks.” Rarely off screen, Romesh has presented travel programmes and documentaries, starred in his own sitcom and hosts the Weakest Link on BBC One. He also presents Radio Two’s Saturday morning show and another weekly Radio Two programme in which he shares his love of hip hop music, which make up many of his choices when it comes to Desert Island Discs.
Romesh addressed his reputation for having a busy workload, he says there is no game plan, he just does “whatever feels good”. He reveals that he is thinking about taking, what he calls, a step back. Romesh added: “I want to be at home a bit more.”
“And by the way, this is not an announcement of retirement, but I do feel like, relatively recently, this is quite fortuitous that we’re talking at the time that we are, because I have just hit this period of thinking I am probably going to just be a bit more measured in what I do going forward. And I think I might take, like, a bigger break between bits.
A walk in the park could lead to my next stand-up idea. Who knows…I need to fill up my reserves.” His music choices on the show include tracks by Eminem, Public Enemy and Stevie Wonder.
The full interview with Romesh and his song choices can be heard on Desert Island Discs today (Sunday) on Radio 4 and BBC Sounds
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