Industry waves a teary goodbye TO THE COMEDY KING

Raju Srivastava started an era of comedy in the entertainment industry which paved the way for young comedians to achieve their dream. He made everyone laugh with his jokes and amazed people with his mimicry skills. After the comedian passed away after battling for his life for over a month, the entertainment and political industry mourned his death immensely. He left a void in the hearts of his fans and wellwishers who were praying for his speedy recovery. On August 10, Raju complained of chest pain while running on the treadmill and shortly suffered a major cardiac arrest. After an angioplasty was performed, he was kept on a ventilator as the actor failed to gain consciousness. However, due to an infection in his brain, he was unable to wake up and breathed his last after battling for almost a month.

Raju passed away on September 21 and had a funeral attended by several of his colleagues, friends and family members. On September 25, a prayer meeting was conducted in Mumbai that was attended by his industry friends. Right from Bharti Singh to Shailesh Lodha, Kapil Sharma and Abhijeet Bhattacharya, everyone was in attendance and was even seen weeping for the loss of a gem. Bharti Singh was highly distraught as she hugged Raju Srivastava’s wife, cried along with her and even consoled the heartbroken Shikha who was still reeling from the loss of her husband. Krushna Abhishek, Haarsh Limbachiyaa, Sunil Pal, Kiku Sharda, Kay Kay Menon, Ahsaan Qureshi and Rohit Verma were also present at the prayer meeting. Several others including Sugandha Mishra and husband Sanket Bhosale, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Vindoo Dara Singh and Lilliput attended the event too. Raju Srivastava worked as an extra in several films in the 80s and 90s and finally stood in the spotlight when he participated in The Great Indian Laughter Challenge. He came in as the runner-up and was a part of the spin-off show, The Great Indian Laughter Challenge – Champions. After that Raju attended several live comedy shows and always made sure to tickle everyone’s funny bones. He started his political career in 2014 when he joined BJP and was a member until his death.