EastEnders Jags star's life now – 'bittersweet exit', new job and soap return snub

Actor and producer Amar Adatia is best known by fans for playing Jags Panesar in BBC soap EastEnders.

Fans of the BBC One soap saw pest controller Jags sentenced to four years behind bars after he turned on his scheming mum Suki Panesar and lost – miserably.

Despite hopes that he would return to Albert Square, fans were gutted to learn that his character been killed off in prison.

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Since leaving EastEnders, the multi-talented star has vowed never to return to soap land, but has since embarked on an incredible new career – creating and producing films.

With 10 stellar movie releases under his belt and many more to come, Daily Star has taken a look at the actor’s life since his explosive Walford exit.

Bittersweet exit

Amar confessed his EastEnders exit was “bittersweet” after the actor left the role of Jags Panesar in October 2020 after just one year on the soap.

There was already an arrangement in place for Amar to leave before he first set foot on Albert Square, but he stayed on longer than expected because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Jags arrived into Walford with the rest of his brothers, Vinny and Kheerat, before finding love with Habiba Ahmed.

But he was last seen being driven away in a police car after being framed by nasty mum Suki, then was sent down for a crime he didn’t commit.

Some EastEnders fans were hoping that Amar would return to the role of Jags in the future, but it was later revealed he had been killed in prison.

Revealing why he was leaving on Instagram at the time, Amar wrote: “The role of Jags was always planned with a specific storyline due to me having prior commitments to star in a film.

“It has been a fantastic journey and I hope you have enjoyed watching Jags on your screens as much as I enjoyed portraying this character.

“I would like to thank you for all the support I receive on the daily and will continue to share my next adventures and positivity with you all.

“Thank you to my amazing cast mates, especially the Panesar family, crew and of course the BBC taking me under their wing.

“It’s a bitter sweet ending but knows I might come back to get a pint from the Vic one day,” he added, before it was announced that his character was being killed off.

Quitting soaps

Amar may be best known to many as Jags Panesar in EastEnders, but the 35-year-old star has no plans to pursue a career in soaps.

The Dagenham-born star says it was his decision to leave the soap, although the actor says he was offered the chance to be released from prison and return to Albert Square.

“They called me back at the beginning of this year to come back out of prison – which was when my contract had ended – but I didn’t want to commit to another year there,” the actor said.

“Being on a soap isn’t a long-term ambition of mine. It’s been great and has been a paddle stool and I’ve meet some amazing people but I want to do other things.”

“I could of easily gone onto star in a different show after EastEnders as I got so many offers to do other things but I decided to say no as I didn’t want to go down that reality route,” he explained to My London.

New job

The multi-talented actor has revealed he left soaps to focus on his passion – creating and producing films.

Amar has his very own production company, which he built from the ground up after years of hard work.

He told My London: “I’ve made nine films and I’ve always produced movies and I’m good at that and I enjoy it.”

Most recently the star has been working on a highly anticipated film called ‘Override’, which came out in the UK in September.

“I shot that in LA and over here and have really good names in it,” he said.

The film, which has been released in the US, has reportedly received rave reviews, which is something that Amar is proud of.

Describing his journey as a filmmaker, Amar says that it took a lot of work and hard graft to get to where he is and added that his second film took four years to get released.

“It was so tough, I learnt a lot of things along the way but it has gotten easier now,” he said.

Amar explained that being asked to be in the same types of roles fuelled him to make a change by taking control of his own destiny.

“Producing happens because I wasn’t getting the roles I wanted.

“I was getting very stereotyped and pigeonholed in the same role, doing your terrorist roles.

“I’ve done all those roles because I am a big guy but ultimately I wanted to do something different, hence why I wanted to write my own script and act and produce my own films.”

EastEnders airs Monday to Thursday on BBC One at 7.30pm

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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk