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India has one less reason to laugh; our favourite ‘Gajodar Bhaiyya’ is no more

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Known for his earthy humour and inimitable delivery style, comedian Raju Srivastav, who became a household name in his delightful ‘Gajodhar Bhaiyya’ persona, breathed his last on Wednesday, September 21, aged 59. The popular comedian battled for his life for 43 days.

He passed away at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), where he had been rushed on August 9 after he complained of chest pain and collapsed in the South Delhi gym where he was working out.

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.

Born on December 25, 1963, Satya Prakash Srivastava, who later became famous as Raju Srivastava, came from a middle-class family in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh.

A gifted mimic, the comedy star had his share on initial struggles before attracting notice by mimicking megastar Amitabh Bachchan’s iconic baritone voice. That got him invited to stage shows both within and outside India.

He first appeared in small roles in Bollywood films, such as the 1989 Salman Khan-starrer ‘Maine Pyaar Kiya’, where he essayed the role of Shambhu, a house help. He then appeared in Shah Rukh Khan’s defining film ‘Baazigar’, which was released in 1993.

Srivastava was then seen in films such as ‘Aamdani Atthani Kharcha Rupaiyaa’ (2001), ‘Main Prem Ki Deewani Hoon’ (2003), ‘Big Brother’ (2007) and ‘Bombay To Goa’ (2007), among many others.

His big breakthrough came in 2005, however, with the first season of ‘The Great Indian Laughter Challenge’, which opened the doors for him in the world of stand-up comedy.

He finished as second runner-up and then took part in the spin-off, ‘The Great Indian Laughter Challenge – Champions’, where he was feted with the title of ‘The King of Comedy’.

In 2009, he took over the cameras, quite literally, as he joined the reality show ‘Bigg Boss 3’. Following that, he was seen in ‘Comedy Ka Maha Muqabala’.

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.

Bollywood

When Ajay Devgn talked about his equation with his late father: You think they are stupid

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Bollywood actor Ajay Devgn appeared on the adventure reality show ‘Into The Wild With Bear Grylls’ back in 2021. During the episode, Ajay shared that children see their parents in a different light once they grow up. He added that their perspective especially changes once they have their own children.

Ajay also opened up about his relationship with his late father, Veeru Devgan.

Bear Grylls commenced the conversation by asking Ajay, “You have lost your dad recently.”

“Yes, two years ago,” said Ajay.

“So the last two years must have been very difficult,” Bear Grylls added.

Ajay explained how a person’s understanding of their parents can change as they grow up.

“It’s tough to lose parents, because you don’t care about them till the age of 20 in your life. You think they are stupid. They don’t know anything. You know everything,” he shared.

Ajay added, “Then when you have your own children, then you understand what parents are. They want the best for you. By then, it takes a lot of time to understand this.”

When Bear Grylls asked Ajay what had happened to his father, the ‘Golmaal’ actor said that his father suffered from Alzheimer’s disease. He added that his father also suffered many physical injuries while working on stunts in his films.

“Yes, he had Alzheimer’s,” Devgn said. “He had a lot of injuries due to stunts,” Ajay told Bear Grylls.

Recalling one particular incident, he added, “Once during the shooting, he had to go across a car, and he had an injury on his head.

Ajay explained that real cars were used for stunt sequences at the time, causing some serious injuries. “Because at that time, they used real glass. Now we use toughened glass. It also hurts. But the real glass hurts a lot.”

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Naseeruddin Shah backs SRFTI students’ protest: BJP trying to frighten future filmmakers

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Veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah extended his support to students of the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute who are currently staging an indefinite sit-in after a violent incident on campus recently.

Naseeruddin claimed that the BJP wishes to take revenge on all who do not subscribe to its beliefs and policies, and SRFTI students are the latest targets.

On Saturday, the veteran actor dropped a video on his official handle saying, “Namaskar, adab, I’m Naseeruddin Shah. The BJP, the bloody jhooti party, after its manipulative victory in the Bengal elections, now seems all out for revenge on anyone who does not subscribe to their beliefs and their policies. The latest victims of this vendetta are the students, the aspiring filmmakers of the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute. In return for their demand for accountability from the administration, they have been served show cause notices, put under surveillance, threatened and now have even been asked to vacate the hostels.”

Naseeruddin added that BJP wants not just to back and encourage the shameless propaganda in its favour, and it is now hoping either to brainwash or frighten the future filmmakers of this country.

“I can promise you that is not going to happen. These are the young people who in the future will tell us the truth about themselves and about our country and about the state we are in,” he assured.

“I urge all right-minded citizens to support the demands of the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute students,” the actor said before ending the clip.

For the unversed, SRFTI students have been staging an indefinite sit-in outside Vice-Chancellor Santosh Ajmera’s office since October 12, demanding his resignation.

Students and members of the Akhil Bharatiya Grahak Panchayat (ABGP), an RSS-affiliated consumer awareness group, got into a clash during a programme on September 27.

On October 4, another tussle took place as a protest was organised by the members of the Bangiya Hindu Jagaran Mancha. According to reports, a few protesters attempted to force open the gate of the institute after police stopped them.

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Janhvi Kapoor admits she gained weight after Karan Johar stopped talking to her

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After Salman Khan, Vijay Deverakonda and Rashmika Mandanna, Bollywood actors Janhvi Kapoor and Varun Dhawan will be seen as guests on the third episode of the popular chat show, ‘Koffee with Karan’.

As the makers unveiled the teaser of the forthcoming episode on Saturday, Varun and Janhvi revealed that filmmaker Karan Johar had stopped speaking to them both. The ‘Mili’ actress added that she even ended up gaining weight when the director was not talking to her.

During the teaser, Karan shared the reason of his silent treatment, saying “I was hurt with both of you.”

Janhvi pitched in with, “I gained weight when we stopped talking.”

Accusing KJo of being too dramatic, Varun added, “Karan, you said very dramatic shit. You became Bachchan from K3G: ‘Mein bada hoon, haq hai mera.'”

While it is not clear why the filmmaker stopped talking to both Varun and Janhvi, it seems like all is well between them now.

As a fun twist to the episode, actor Arjun Kapoor joined Varun and Janhvi for the rapid fire round on the show.

As Karan asked Varun, who will he like to take career advice and marriage advice from, he immediately took Arjun’s name.

Additionally, as Janhvi was asked to name one Instagram account that is ‘giving’ all the time, she replied, Ravi Kishan. After that, she also went on to imitate his viral punchline: ‘Money follows my brother!’. Arjun also accompanied his sister.

Sharing the teaser of the next episode of ‘Koffee With Karan’ on his Instagram handle, Karan wrote the caption, “@varundvn & @janhvikapoor on my couch…need I say more? This one was all madness and love + a very special (longstanding) guest. Koffee with Karan Season 9, Episode 3, streaming Wednesday at 7pm, only on The Peacock Hub on JioHotstar.”

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