Nitin Ganatra thanked the British public for helping to make Eastenders character Masood Ahmed such a huge success.
Nitin picked-up the Best TV character Award at the 2016 Asian Media Awards.
The AMA’s recognise excellence in the media with categories in journalism, online, radio, television and marketing. The awards are sponsored by the University of Salford and took place the Hilton Manchester Deansgate.
The award was presented by Rosena Allin-Khan MP for Tooting.
Nitin Ganatra will depart the BBC soap after playing the good-natured postman for nine years, despite only planning to stay for six months.
He thanked the writers on the night and his co-stars for helping to make the character one of the soap’s best loved characters.
Nitin said, “I’m really happy. I’ve never won that many awards before to be honest.
“This is Masood’s award, for Best TV Character. This is very flattering. I’m very touched at how many people love Masood Ahmed, by the amount of love this character has gotten from the UK public.
“This character has crossed all religions and all cultures, there are young and old people that love this guy.
“I think that’s a huge success story for the UK.”
Since first appearing in EastEnders in 2007 Masood Ahmed has been one of the focal points of many major storylines in the BBC soap.
Head of the Ahmed family, Masood has battled with a range of social and personal issues endearing himself to viewers.
Actor Nitin Ganatra is one of the UK’s best loved personalities and has also appeared in Tim Burton’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Bride and Prejudice, The Mistress of Spices as Haroun and as Dev Raja in Mumbai Calling.
The Best TV Character category was supported by MediaCom.
The University of Salford are premier sponsors to the 2016 events and partners include ITV, MediaCom, Press Association Training and the Manchester Evening News.
The official charity partners for 2016 are The Asian Circle and Oxfam.
The Asian Media Awards 2016 are supported by Hilton Manchester Deansgate, Manchester Metropolitan University, Routes into Languages, AMT Lawyers, Espoke Living, Supreme Dream Events, Cleartwo & Payal.
