Romesh Ranganathan has opened up about the heartache that led to a rift with his brother after their dad died.
The Weakest Link presenter Romesh, 44, had just had his second child and was leaving his teaching job to become a comedian when dad Ranga’s death in 2011 revealed family financial problems.
It led to a furious row with his younger brother Dinesh who felt he was not pulling his weight.
Romesh told the Griefcast podcast: “My dad passing away caused massive problems with me and my brother. We had this situation where we found out our financial situation was a house of cards, and we weren’t sure what was going to happen to the house.
“At the same time I wasn’t making any money from comedy, and it was a really high-pressure situation.
“My brother felt like I wasn’t doing enough to help out.”
Describing the moment their relationship changed, he said: “I remember having a massive row with him in the foyer of a theatre.
“I shouted, ‘I’m never going to forget how you’ve treated me.’ And the argument continues. That created a rift between us that took months to sort out.
“Every now and again... it’s like a scar. If one of us perceives the other to be not doing the brotherly thing, we’ll fall back on that dynamic very easily.”
Romesh said the rift was healed when he wrote his autobiography. He told the Cheltenham Literature Festival in 2018: “Just today my brother texted and said, ‘I’ve just been listening to the audiobook and I am really sorry. It’s given me a new appreciation of it from your side.”
Their family had already had a turbulent time, with Ranga leaving their mum Shanthi for another woman when Romesh was 12.
The brothers went to fee-paying Reigate Grammar School, but when their dad was jailed for fraud the family home was repossessed and they moved to the local comprehensive.
They and their mum lived in a B&B for 18 months before being found a council house.
On his release Ranga came back to the family and started running a pub in East Grinstead, West Sussex, before dying of a heart attack.
Ranga and Shanthi had arrived in the UK from Sri Lanka in the 1970s and settled in Crawley, West Sussex.
Romesh said previously: “I did hero-worship my dad. My mum was dealing with what my dad was being like and two kids who thought she was making a big deal about nothing. But it turns out she wasn’t making a big enough deal about it.”
