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Asha Alahan is the daughter of Dev and Sunita Alahan and twin sister of Aadi.

Born in 2006, the twins were raised in Bramhall before moving to Coronation Street when their divorced parents reconciled. They were closer to their mother, and were deeply affected by Sunita's tragic death in 2013. Dev then raised Aadi and Asha as a single father, with Mary Taylor acting as their nanny.

As she hit her teenage years, Asha began to struggle with her own body image and in 2019 she began using dangerous skin lightening cream. When Dev discovered the truth, Asha began attending counselling to deal with her issues. More seriously, a video of Asha undressing for her crush, Corey Brent, was spread around by Kelly Neelan and ended up on the internet.

In 2021, Asha fell for her friend Nina Lucas but Nina ended their brief relationship after Asha came on too strongly. Ending up back with Corey, Asha was asked to cover for her boyfriend when he instigated a vicious attack on Nina and her boyfriend Seb Franklin. Asha finally saw Corey for the thug he was and gave him up to the police. She then reconciled with Nina, but ended their two-year relationship when Nina made a pass at Aadi.

Asha currently lives at 7 Coronation Street with Dev and Aadi and is in training to become a paramedic.

Biography

2006-2009: Early years

Asha is one of the twins born to Dev and Sunita Alahan in January 2006 along with her brother Aadi. Before the birth, Sunita had learnt that Dev had fathered children by several different women. Devastated, she left Dev after deciding she could no longer trust him and had even considered having a termination rather than be a single mother.

Asha Alahan 2006-IMAGE

2006: Dev and Sunita hold their newborn twins

Dev had hoped for a reunion once the twins were born but after initially allowing him in the delivery room, Sunita barred him from all contact and only accepted help from him when he was too exhausted to refuse. Seeing how well Dev coped, Sunita briefly flirted with the idea of a reunion but was furious when she discovered Dev had registered the births behind her back and realising she still couldn't trust him, took the twins and moved back in with her family.

Sunita subsequently divorced Dev, but they kept in regular contact. By December 2009 she was engaged to Matt Davis and living with him in the house she'd bought with Dev prior to their separation. Matt had taken on the responsibility of the twins and they quickly became comfortable with him as a father figure.

2010-2018: Growing up and losing a mother

After Dev discovered Sunita's engagement, he began making visits to her house and trying to spend more time with the twins, not wanting them to forget their father. In January 2010, Asha fell ill and Sunita feared that she had meningitis after discovering she had spots and high temperature. Dev rushed to her side and although a Doctor from the Medical Centre confirmed it was just a virus, the incident brought them closer together. Shortly afterwards, Sunita ended her engagement to Matt and resumed her relationship with Dev and by March they were living together with the twins at Dev's Victoria Court flat. Another move soon followed to 7 Coronation Street where the Alahans made their family home.

The family unit was disrupted in July 2012 after Sunita's affair with Karl Munro was exposed, leading Dev to move out and Karl to move in with her and the children at No.7. The twins did not like Karl very much and Sunita soon got fed up of his laziness and regretted throwing away her marriage for him. By March 2013, Dev and Sunita were on the brink of another reunion and leaving for a fresh start away from Weatherfield when Sunita was critically injured in a fire at the Rovers Return. After a couple of weeks, Sunita died in hospital and it later transpired that Karl was responsible for the fire and removing her breathing tubes.

Dev struggled to cope with the twins alone but Mary Taylor offered him a helping hand and soon became a 'nanny' to the children. Several girlfriends came and went over the next few years- including Julie Carp, Erica Holroyd and Gina Seddon but Mary remained a constant in Asha and Aadi's lives.

2019-: Body image struggles

In 2019, Asha began to rebel against Dev, such as sneaking out to a party he had forbidden her from going to. Dev assumed this was down to teenage hormones and believed an extended visit to India to stay with family would be beneficial. When they returned, Asha was more withdrawn and began spending a lot of time in her bedroom and when she did go outside, she remained covered in long clothing. When Asha returned to school in September, best friend Amy became increasingly concerned about her, especially after discovering a bloodstain on her sleeve. When Amy confronted Asha, believing she was self-harming, Asha revealed that she had actually been using a skin bleaching product in the hope of making her skin lighter. Amy was horrified by Asha's burnt skin and Asha assured her she would stop to prevent her telling Dev but secretly continued applying the cream.

Asha Alahan 1

2019: Asha is forced to seek help after using a skin bleaching cream

Running out of the product, Asha was desperate for money to get some more, even accepting Dev's ultimatum that she would have to work for extra money at the kebab shop, but when he refused her an advance on her wages she resorted to stealing his credit card to buy some more lightening cream but Dev soon discovered the fraud. When confronted, Asha lied that she had used the money to buy make-up and Dev furiously grounded her but his suspicions were aroused when a package arrived for her and opened it, discovering the skin lightening cream and ripped posters of light-skinned Bollywood actresses off Asha's wall in anger. Realising that Asha was full of self-loathing, Dev took her to Dr Gaddas who recommended counselling sessions. At the same time Asha began a relationship with schoolmate Corey Brent.

Corey later ended the relationship but Asha still liked him and in an attempt to impress him, undressed during an online video chat, which he recorded. Fellow schoolmate Kelly Neelan later became aware of the video's existence and after a disagreement at a party held by Amy, in which Asha refused to stick up for Kelly, she spitefully shared it on social media. Asha was dealt a further blow when she learnt the video had been uploaded to a porn site. Asha even became desperate to leave Weatherfield High because of the incident but was persuaded not to by Dev.

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Personality

Asha and Aadi were both quiet and well-mannered children and loyal to their father, although less so to his revolving door of girlfriends. In her teen years, Asha grew more outspoken and rebellious although this was masking a great deal of self-consciousness and discomfort about her body, which was further provoked by bullying at school. Asha is a resourceful girl and can often convince the more placid Aadi to cover for her when she wants to hide something from Dev.

Relationships

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Background information

Asha and Aadi were conceived as part of Sunita Alahan's exit story in 2006 after actress Shobna Gulati was axed from the programme. Both Asha and Aadi were played by triplets Hannah, Harris & Ria Ahmed in 2006. Since the character's return in 2009, Asha has been played by Tanisha Gorey. Gorey was born in 2002 in Oldham and Asha was her first professional acting role. As child characters, the Alahan twins didn't take on many of their own storylines and appeared less frequently than contemporary child characters like Amy and Simon Barlow.

In January 2015, the birth date of the twins was amended on screen to 13th January 2005 when they were shown celebrating their tenth birthdays in Episode 8554 (14th January 2015). They have remained one year older than their initially described ages ever since.

Corrie asha 2

Coronation Street tackles skin bleaching with Asha

Asha's first major storyline came in 2019 when it was announced that Coronation Street would be tackling the subject of self-esteem issues and the use of skin lightening products among Asian girls and women through Asha. Speaking to Digital Spy about the storyline, Gorey said: "knew nothing about these skin lightening creams really, I’d heard it happened but I had no idea it was as common as it actually is. I want to make sure I do it justice because if you’re going to cover such a serious issue, which is not shown a lot, then you need to do it in the right way. I’m really looking forward to taking it on and hopefully help educate other young girls about it. It’s all about self-esteem."

Extending the focus on body image and self-esteem, Asha's next storyline revolved around the aftermath of sexting and revenge porn. On the development of the story, Tanisha Gorey said: "I first found out what would happen in a conversation with the show's story editor. At that point, they weren't sure of the exact details – whether it'd be a picture or a video – but it was always going to be focused on sexting and then the online trolling that Asha suffers in the aftermath."[1] Producer Iain MacLeod added: "It certainly has a way to go. It's part of a long-term direction for Asha as a struggle with her self-esteem."

First and last lines

"We're not asleep." (First line, to father Dev)

Appendices

List of addresses

Address Duration
15a Coronation Street 13th January 2006 to 1st February 2006
Parekh family residence 1st February 2006 to 22nd May 2006
7 Meadow View, Bramhall 22nd May 2006 to 26th March 2010
9 Victoria Court 26th March 2010 to 31st May 2010
7 Coronation Street 31st May 2010 to 23rd April 2021
12 Victoria Court 26th April 2021 to 10th May 2021
7 Coronation Street 10th May 2021 to present

Employment history

Role Institution Duration
Assistant Prima Doner 30th September 2019 to present

See also

Current characters
Ken Barlow | Rita Tanner | Gail Rodwell | Tracy McDonald | Audrey Roberts | Nick Tilsley | Kevin Webster | Debbie Webster | Jenny Connor | Sally Metcalfe | Sarah Barlow | Steve McDonald | David Platt | Daniel Osbourne | Roy Cropper | Leanne Battersby | Toyah Habeeb | Tyrone Dobbs | Dev Alahan | Eileen Grimshaw | Maria Connor | Kirk Sutherland | Bethany Platt | Adam Barlow | Todd Grimshaw | Fiz Dobbs | Simon Barlow | Sean Tully | Chesney Winter-Brown | Amy Barlow | Aadi Alahan | Asha Alahan | Ryan Connor | Carla Barlow | Dylan Wilson | Gary Windass | Mary Taylor | Liam Connor | Brian Packham | Izzy Armstrong | Max Turner | Jack Webster | Hope Dobbs | Beth Sutherland | Craig Tinker | Joseph Brown | Ruby Dobbs | Tim Metcalfe | Jake Windass | Lily Platt | Alya Nazir | Yasmeen Metcalfe | Gemma Winter-Brown | Billy Mayhew | Alex Warner | Harry Platt | Shona Platt | Summer Spellman | Abi Webster | Paul Foreman | Evelyn Plummer | Bertie Osbourne | Ed Bailey | Michael Bailey | Aggie Bailey | Bernie Winter | Aled Winter-Brown | Bryn Winter-Brown | Carys Winter-Brown | Llio Winter-Brown | Nina Lucas | Elaine Jones | George Shuttleworth | Sam Blakeman | Daisy Midgeley | Ronnie Bailey | Glory Bailey | Stu Carpenter | Alfie Franklin | Eliza Woodrow | Glenda Shuttleworth | Dee-Dee Bailey | Lauren Bolton | Cassie Plummer
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