| Tara Mandal | |||||||||||
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| Coronation Street character | |||||||||||
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| Portrayed by | Ayesha Dharker | ||||||||||
| Duration | 2008–2009 | ||||||||||
| First appearance | 15 September 2008 | ||||||||||
| Last appearance | 11 May 2009 | ||||||||||
| Classification | Former; regular | ||||||||||
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Tara Mandal is a fictional character from the British soap opera Coronation Street, played by Ayesha Dharker. She made her first appearance as Tara during the episode broadcast on 15 September 2008. Tara is introduced as the daughter of Prem Mandal (Madhav Sharma) and Nina Mandal (Harvey Virdi). She was also created as a new love interest of Dev Alahan (Jimmi Harkishin), which writers had already complicated by featuring Dev and Nina in a sexual affair. Tara was only originally supposed to feature in the series until Dev and Nina's affair is exposed. Producers asked Dharker to extend her contract and writers fully developed their relationship.
Tara's other stories include her friendship with Dev's daughter, Amber Kalirai (Nikki Patel). Dharker believed that writers invested in their dynamic because the two actresses had built a good rapport off-screen. In April 2009, it was announced that Dharker would leave Coronation Street as Tara's storyline reached a natural conclusion. Her departure features Tara discovering Dev's affair with Lisa Dalton (Ruth Alexander Rubin) and her subsequent revenge plot. Tara tricks Dev into posing for nude photographs and uses them to create an art installation which she publicly unveils and humiliates him in front of his neighbours. Tara decides to leave Weatherfield following the plot and Dharker last appeared during the episode broadcast on 11 May 2009.