Raju Srivastav

Raju Srivastava
Raju Srivastav during an event
Birth name	Satya Prakash Srivastava
Born	(1963-12-25) 25 December 1963 Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India
Nationality	Indian
Genres	Observational comedy
Spouse	Shikha Srivastava
Notable works and roles	Standup Comedy on The Great Indian Laughter Challenge
Website	www.rajusrivastav.in

Raju Srivastava (born Satya Prakash Srivastava on 25 December 1963), often credited as Gajodhar or Raju Shrivastav, is an Indian comedian.

Early life

Raju Srivastava was born on 25 December 1963, in Kanpur, India in a middle class Kayastha family. His father was a poet, Mr. Ramesh Chandra Srivastava known as Balai Kaka. Being a good mimic, Raju wanted to become a comedian since childhood.

Career

Srivastav has performed in stage shows in India and abroad. He also launched a series of his audio cassettes and video CDs. He gained initial notice as an Amitabh Bachchan look-alike.

He started his career by doing small roles in Bollywood films. He had a part in the Rajshri movie Maine Pyar Kiya and other small roles in various movies such as Baazigar & Bombay to Goa. He worked as an actor cum comedian with Bollywood movie Aamdani Atthani Kharcha Rupaiyaa.

He entered comedy in the talent show The Great Indian Laughter Challenge and finished as second runner-up, subsequently taking part in the spin-off, The Great Indian Laughter Challenge - Champions, in which he won the title of "The King of Comedy".

He participated in Big Boss - 3, Indian counterpart of Big Brother. After staying in the house for more than two months he was voted out on December 4, 2009.

He participated in the comedy show Comedy Ka Maha Muqabla.^[1] In 2013, Raju along with his wife participated in Nach Baliye 6 which is a dance couple show on Star Plus. He also appeared on Comedy Nights with Kapil.

He also appeared in a show called Mazaak Mazaak Mein a.k.a. 'The Indian Mazaak League'. It was a stand up comedy show which aired on Life Ok. Popular cricketers Harbhajan Singh and Shoaib Akhtar were the judges of the show.

Political career

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party fielded Srivastava from Kanpur in the 2014 Lok Sabha election.^[2] But on 11 March 2014, Srivastava returned the ticket, saying he was not getting enough support from the local units of the party.^[3][4] After that he joined Bhartiya Janta Party on 19 March 2014.^[5][6][7]

Prime Minister Narendra Modi nominated him to be part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. Since then he has been promoting cleanliness through his events in different cities. He has made various music videos for promoting cleanliness. He has also shot various TV commercials and social service message videos for Swacha Bharat Abhiyaan.

Personal life

He is married to Shikha Srivastava and has two children.

Raju Srivastav received threatening calls from Pakistan warning him not to crack jokes on underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and Pakistan during his shows.^[8]

Filmography

References

External links

• Raju Srivastav on IMDb