One Of India's Top Comedians Raju Srivastava Died At Age Of 58

Raju Srivastava Died Of Heart-Attack while exercising in a Delhi gym

Raju Srivastava, 58, one of India's top comedians who could find humour in even the most mundane aspects of daily life, died in Delhi on Wednesday, more than a month after suffering a heart attack. On August 10, the 58-year-old comedian had a heart attack while exercising in a Delhi gym. He underwent angioplasty after being transported to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi. After that, he was put on a ventilator and never recovered consciousness. His employees and business partners have expressed their sympathies since the comedian's passing was announced. Leaders from the film industry and politics expressed their condolences for his passing. He leaves behind his wife Shikha and two kids.

Raju Srivastav’s Background

It would be incorrect in many respects to limit Raju Srivastava to being a comic. Being the son of Balai Kaka, the poet of the common man, Ramesh Chandra Srivastava, he learned how to feel the heartland's pulse and flow through its veins. And though born on Christmas Day in a middle-class family in Kanpur,  Raju grew up in the culture of poetic soirees which his father, a government servant and poet, used to attend. A neighbourhood uncle introduced him as "Raju" at one of those gatherings, and the name stuck. Raju was able to write his own sets and avoid offensive innuendos because of his grooming. Because of his father's encouragement, he was able to move to Mumbai in the early 1980s and pursue his dreams. 

King of Comedy                                                   

At the time, stand-up comedy hadn't yet taken hold in India, but Raju could impersonate movie stars and quickly established himself as a gifted performer who could pass as Amitabh Bachchan. Along with Johnny Lever, who was already well-known at the time, Raju started to appear frequently on Doordarshan programmes, at film award ceremonies, and when well-known musicians performed live. At the turn of the millennium, when the genre of stand-up comedy reached Indian shores with The Great Indian Laughter Challenge and several spin-offs, Raju’s career saw a spike and He was crowned the "King of Comedy." The performances allowed Raju the chance to develop his observational humour skills on stage and move beyond imitating Bollywood celebrities.

Raju Srivastav’s Humour

He critiqued the state of humanity using all the tools of the trade, including wit, irony, mockery, drama, and satire. Due to his acting training, he also added some physical humour to his performances. He occasionally pretended to be an object, like a train. He would occasionally become intoxicated. But he largely enjoyed mocking himself by adopting the personas of "UP Bhaiyya," "Shuklaji," or "Guptaji" and challenging their prejudices. Even inanimate items and animal behaviour may make him laugh. Raju found humour in everything that had an impact on people's lives, whether it was a cow that yawned at a railroad crossing, a wedding buffet, or a ticking bomb about to go off. Big figures like Mamata Banerjee, Lalu Prasad Yadav, and Baba Ramdev appeared in his acts, but Raju never let comedy turn into political criticism and preserved the purity of the art form.

Raju Srivastava’s Journey Apart from Comedy                                                          

From  Maine Pyar Kiya and  Baazigar to  Journey Bombay to Goa, Raju featured in several films but unlike Lever, Raju’s real-life image had become so strong that people hardly accepted him as a sidekick for comic relief. He also participated in  Bigg Boss and  Nach Baliye, where his comic timing overshadowed the skills required for the reality shows.For the past ten years, Raju has been involved in politics and social work in Uttar Pradesh, utilising his skills to support the leadership's initiatives for cleanliness and the COVID-19 vaccination.He initially joined the Samajwadi Party before transferring to the Bharatiya Janta Party in 2014, the year that Indian Prime Minister Modi selected him as a Swachch Bharat Abhiyan ambassador. Raju served as the UP Film Development Council's chairman in 2019 and actively pushed to realise Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's vision for the development of a premier film city in Greater Noida.