Comedian Raju Srivastava’s condition worsens; he is ‘almost brain dead’, says aide

Mumbai, Aug 18: Popular comedian-actor Raju Srivastva's condition seems to have worsened. In a latest update on the comedian's health, his friend has revealed that Srivastava's 'brain has stopped functioning.' He asked the fans to pray for Raju's health.

"Friends, please pray for Raju Srivastava. His condition is critical, even the doctor doesn't know what to do. Please pray. His brain has stopped functioning, please pray everything gets well soon,)" fellow comedian Sunil Pal said.

The 58-year-old stand-up comic was admitted to the hospital after suffering a heart attack on August 10 and later underwent angioplasty.

The comedian is being treated by Dr Nitish Naik, professor at the department of cardiology at the AIIMS.

The comic had a heart attack while exercising at a hotel's gym here.

He gained initial stardom as an Amitabh Bachchan look-alike and also imitated him very well. He landed in Mumbai (then Bombay), and after a few years did a blink-and-you-miss role in the superhit Rajshri movie Maine Pyar Kiya. He did many other small roles in a varied number of movies, mostly an inconspicuous comic roles.

Raju Srivastav, a talented artiste, with a flair for comedy, had done stage shows with Kalyanji Anandji, Bappi Lahiri, and Nitin Mukesh in India and abroad. He was also noticed by Johnny Lever when he used to do stage shows before joining the film industry. Raju's mimicry was liked and applauded by the masses and he was an important person in Johnny Lever's troupe.

His big break, however, was the comedy talent show The Great Indian Laughter Challenge. Although he didn't win the competition and only received a 1st runner-up title, he followed that stint with some memorable stage performances in the spin-off, The Great Indian Laughter Challenge - Champions, where he was unofficially given the coveted title "The King of Comedy".

After that, he was noticed by many filmmakers and got regular assignments in movies with bigger roles.