Romesh Ranganathan opens up about turbulent childhood as dad sent to jail for fraud

Daily Record

01-06-2025

Comedian Romesh Ranganathan has opened up about his teenage years as his life was turned upside down when his father went to prison.
TV presenter and comedy star Romesh Ranganathan has recently opened up about his turbulent childhood when his father was sent to prison for two years for fraud. Opening up on Radio 4's show Desert Island Disc, the comedian shared how his life was completely turned upside down due to his father's actions.
At the time of the imprisonment, Romesh was a teenager living in Crawley. He recalled that he was attending a private school at the time when he, his younger brother and mother were forced to move out of their family home and into a Bed and Breakfast.
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He said: "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.
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"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."
To make matters worse, it soon became apparent that his father Ranga was having an affair, reports the Mirror. When is father disappeared for several days, Romesh recalled having to ask the "other women" where his dad was.
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In doing so, Romesh found out that his father had been arrested. He explained: "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."
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"Because for a while, we moved out of the house, and then a counsellor gave us a room in a bed and breakfast."
Speaking to Lauren Laverne, Romesh said that he remembered his mother crying during this period of time and that she managed to get a job as a cleaner to help provide for her sons.
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When his father did come back home after being imprisoned, Romesh said they were able to patch up their relationship over time.
The 47-year-old 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."
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Romesh also candidly spoke about his struggles with mental health on the Radio 4 show, admitting that he had thought about taking his own life more than once and saw it as a solution to his emotional turmoil.
While he admits that he has experienced serious dark periods in this life, he has now learned how to manage those times. He touches on some of his experiences through his comedy shows, but he is aware that he needs to be careful about how far he goes.
He explained: "You got to be careful because it's triggering. 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."