Popular Comedian Raju Srivastava is no more, PM expresses grief

New Delhi: Comedian Raju Srivastava passed away here after over a month-long illness. He was 58. A mortal human at the end of it, he lost his last fight, stretching over 43 days, against death. But his work has assured him immortality.

Srivastava had suffered a cardiac arrest. He had been admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences(AIIMS) on August 10 after he collapsed in a gym. He had been put on ventilator. Srivastav was at once moved to the Intensive Care Unit and put on a ventilator. Doctors had then said that he had suffered brain damage.

He was declared dead at 10.20 am on 21 September, NDTV reported.

The comedian had a huge following and he achieved prominence with his performance in  the stand-up comedy show “The Great Indian Laughter Challenge”.

Condoling his demise, PM Modi said: “He leaves us too soon but he will continue to live in the hearts of countless people thanks to his rich work over the years. His demise is saddening. Condolences to his family and admirers. Om Shanti.”

The Indian comedy galactic cluster lost its brightest star in the form of Raju Shrivastav. His journey to become one of the most widely recognized Indian comedians was rife with struggles and reinventions as an artiste and as a person.

Raju was born in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, to a government employee and poet, Ramesh Chandra Srivastava, and homemaker, Saraswati Srivastava. Named Satya Prakash Srivastava at birth, Raju harbored the dream of becoming a comic artiste since his childhood and he moved to Mumbai in the 1980s to give a definitive shape to his dream.

The beauty of his life was that he constantly kept pushing the envelope. In 2013, Srivastava, along with his wife Shikha, participated in the popular dance show ‘Nach Baliye’ Season 6. Soon thereafter, he also appeared on ‘Comedy Nights with Kapil’.

He even branched out into politics! The Samajwadi Party fielded Srivastava from Kanpur in the 2014 Lok Sabha election, but he returned the ticked and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party. Prime Minister Narendra Modi named him to be a part of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, for which he has shot various TV commercials and social service video.

He is survived by Shikha, whom he married in 1993, and their children Antara and Ayushman.

(with IANS inputs)

—INDIA NEWS STREAM