Raju Srivastav, the Bachchan of Comedy, is No More

Raju Srivastav, Bollywood comedian and actor responsible for many belly-aching, pee-in-pants moments that have stayed with us like a smile, made legions of his fans cry on Wednesday morning when he breathed his last at Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). He was just 58. 

On August 10, Srivastav had collapsed while working out on a treadmill in a gym. He underwent angioplasty the same day, but his health didn’t improve. He suffered a second heart attack on September 21 while being treated at AIIMS. His third heart attack on Wednesday claimed his life.   

Raju Srivastav, who was perhaps India’s original and most loved stand-up comedian, is survived by his wife Shikha, two children and comedic routines honed to perfection over three decades. 

His passing marks the close of a unique comedic chapter in India’s history, one that began in 2005 when it was beamed into Indian homes via cable channels.  

Born Satya Prakash Srivastav on December 25, 1963, in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, 

Raju Srivastav’s career harks back to a time when India’s stand-up comedians came from poor families in the Hindi heartland, and their comic routines carried a whiff of their lives, revisited their families’ tragedies with a smile, but were told to entertain city-dwellers in plush auditoriums. In that meeting of two very different worlds, Srivastav created alchemy, a magic of sorts with moments when the city audience remembered and greeted its own past with a smile and a teary hug.  

Srivastav began his comedic career while he was a rickshaw driver in Mumbai in the early 1980s, earning his first fee of Rs 50 by mimicking Amitabh Bachchan as part of a neighborhood orchestra band. 

From doing filler comic routines in small, local events, he went on to participate in stage shows, and was soon doing small roles in films (starting with Tezaab in 1988 and then Maine Pyar Kiya in 1989). This led to recognition and a comedy competition on television.  

An excellent mimic, Srivastav first burst into Indian living rooms wearing a three-piece suit and a tie in 2005 with Star One’s The Great Indian Laughter Challenge. Though he was adjudged the second runner-up, the show’s winner, Sunil Pal, and others faded from public memory. But Raju Srivastav stayed, his fame growing and his comedic routines becoming a benchmark for clean fun.  

His comic routines had lots of Bollywood, a bit of politics, some memories of a life left behind and sharp social commentary.  

He didn’t spare any Bollywood star, politician or cricketer, and his stand-up routines where he imitated Amitabh Bachchan (especially from Sholay and Deewar), made fun of Lalu Prasad Yadav and joked about his own life via a fictitious rustic character, ‘Gajodhar Bhaiyya’, remained his most loved routines. 

Raju Srivastav’s jokes always landed well because he always remained within the tameez ka daira, never crossing the line of civility but continually teasing it. His jokes would often wrap sharp social satire and discomfiting truth in touching affability and the scent of petrichor. 

In Lalu’s presence, for example, he famously joked about the politician’s many children, his wife Rabri, cattle fodder, and Lalu playing Superman in blue chaddies.
It was a sign of a vibrant democracy and the ability to laugh at oneself without taking offence that Srivastav became a regular at high-profile events in India and abroad, including award shows, Bollywood nights, even political conclaves.
It was in 2013, when Raju Srivastav began dabbling in politics, first with the Samajwadi Party, and then after joining the Bharatiya Janata Party where he became the ambassador for Swachh Bharat Mission, that his jokes didn’t seem to land well. 

They acquired a slant. Everyone was game, except the leaders of the party he belonged to. Recently, he even posted a video supporting the boycott calls for Laal Singh Chaddha. 

But the Bachchan of comedy who famously told Rajat Sharma in Aap Ki Adaalat that he would do anything to make people laugh, will remain a source of joy and laughter forever. His imitation of singers – qawwali, ghazal and pop singers – remains my favourite. And today I watched those comic routines again. Like always, Raju Srivastav made me laugh. But today the laughter died too soon and he made me cry, too.