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The Unfortunate Problem With Big Bang Theory's Raj Koothrappali
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Jun 3, 2025
Big Bang Theory was a force to be reckoned with when it was at it's peak on CBS. Though not all of Big Bang's characters got the same treatment when it comes to meaningful story telling. Raj Koothrappali was the one main character on Big Bang Theory that seemed to be more caricature than real person. Even when finally given a meaningful story line, the writers were quick to course correct and undo everything they had built.
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Okay, so let me see if I got this. Leonard, Howard, and I'm sorry, what was your name again
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Raj Kuttharpal, the Ringo of the Big Bang Theory cast of characters
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But the character's third wheel status is certainly not the fault of actor Kunal Neyar
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who did the best he could with the shoddy material he was given week in and week out
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The problem with Raj goes beyond just a lack of interest in the character on the part of the
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writers. They seem to, at times, almost be resentful that they have to include him in the show at all
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No. Yes. No. Yes. No. Yes. I have three brothers and two sisters, Sharon. I can do this all day
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First premiering in 2007, The Big Bang Theory was a huge rating success, and while the show
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certainly had many critics, it's impossible to deny its impact for the majority of its run
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The show premiered exactly at the correct time in the cultural zeitgeist as the geek takeover
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of Hollywood was truly about to begin. With Iron Man marking the start of the MCU
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and Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight only a year away, a true change in the popular conception
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of what it meant to be a geek was about to occur. The show's seemingly unstoppable popularity
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became a perfect illustration of the way geek culture had become mainstream
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The show even went as far as to hire scientific consultants to make sure the scientific jargon and mathematical formulas
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in the set decorations were accurate. However, despite this seeming fealty to the types of people the show is portraying
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it can be hard to tell if this series reached such a massive audience in part because it seemed to want to play its comedy both ways
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Is the comedy of the Big Bang Theory laughing with the characters, or is the humor meant to be at their expense
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Hey, Sheldon, what do you say we go outside and throw around the old pigskin
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This is a Jewish house, I don't think it has pigskin. this apathy towards raj in particular shows up time and time again and not only becomes
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detrimental to the way we feel about him with his cartoonish mannerisms becoming so unrealistic
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even for a sitcom it completely shatters the investment audiences had in him despite the show massive success it nearly never made it to air in the first place The show initially had two pilots
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the first of which only featured Sheldon and Leonard as the primary characters
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How exactly do you get distracted making a sperm deposit? Did you find something more interesting in your pants
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The poor test audience reception of the first pilot led to a general overhaul of the series
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The only part of the show that remained the same were the characters of Sheldon and Leonard
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who received the most praise from the initial test audience. The reshot version of the pilot recast the role of Penny and added the remaining male leads of Howard and Raj
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Bill Prady, the show's co-creator, commented, The idea was, if they like these first two guys, let's give them two more
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This quote speaks to the fact that Raj and, to a lesser extent, Howard
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were both afterthoughts in the creation of the series. Raj often feels like a redundancy to the other characters
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and once you know his creation came from an attempt to simply give the audience more of what they seem to want
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you understand why the character was never given his proper due. In theory, Raj should exist in an important space
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within the sitcom ecosystem, the scene-stealing side character. Let me ask you something
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Would a passive guy barge in here to look you in the eye and say, hey, do you kiss flower? What's up
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characters such as cosmo kramer ned flanders or the fonds himself may not get as much screen time
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as the central characters but their comedic energy brings something to the table that keeps
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the audiences laughing i sure like the cut of your gibberish while these characters often can't carry
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a show entirely on their own they are vital to expanding the world within a sitcom while also
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injecting fresh comedic takes into each scene. Instead, Raj exists as a human punching bag
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He is often portrayed as being the butt of the jokes rather than the source of genuine comedy
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His primary running gag for the show first six seasons was to suddenly become unable to speak whenever a woman was nearby unless he was intoxicated Bachelor and the next time married and driving a minivan to peewee cricket matches in suburban New Delhi Are you talking to me
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Is there another penny here? This would lead to gags where Raj is completely left out of plans
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due to his inability to speak. Jokes that feel needlessly mean-spirited in a show
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that doesn't really have that sort of tone. This is to say nothing of the frequent jokes
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at the expense of Raj about his cultural identity, suggesting Sheldon has more knowledge about Hindu language than he does
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You really want to challenge yourself, you could learn to speak Hindi. All of these gags serve as characters like Sheldon
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but it constantly feels like punching down on a character that doesn't really deserve that treatment
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Raj's inability to speak to women finally started to change at the end of the show's sixth season
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Producer Steve Malero commented on the change, saying, Which only further highlights just how inconsequential the writers must have seen Raj
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if it took them over 135 episodes to realize their error. The moment of Raj's cure feels somewhat unsatisfying
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After being dumped by his girlfriend, Lucy in the season 6 finale
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Raj is out of the blue, suddenly able to talk to women again
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It's just the booze talking. No, it's not. I haven't had a drink since last night
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There really isn't a lesson learned for a moment of growth. He simply seemed to get over it
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Once the writers freed Raj of his selective mutism, the character was able to be actively involved in the same type of romantic hijinks
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as the rest of the show's characters. Raj has a few distinct relationships that finally give him
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at least some semblance of a plotline within the show. Unfortunately, the character feels as if he's
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playing catch-up with the established relationships of the show at this point. Any long-term romantic
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prospects for Raj typically end in failure Perhaps the most insulting version of this comes in the final season where Raj enters a relationship with Anu An ambitious woman who actually proposes to Raj she seems like she would be the logical in relationship for him
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They challenge each other in ways that make both characters more compelling, and this ultimately helps Raj to grow after being stagnant for most of the show's run
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This, however, is ultimately undone in episode 22 of season 12, where Anu gets a dream job in London
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and Raj initially agrees to move. They offered me a management position
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That's amazing. That's your dream. It's here in London. Oh. He is then convinced to stay by Howard and breaks off the engagement completely
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Raj is, once again, made into an accessory to the friend group rather than being made into a character with his own sense of agency
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His romance ends with a whimper and a half-hearted explanation that his friends matter more than his relationship with Anu
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This need to keep Raj in America rather than allowing him to be his own person
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feels like an even worse evolution of the constant insults the character received in the earlier seasons of the show
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Showrunner Steve Holland explained the decision as Anu started to feel like the person you didn't want to see Raj end up with
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You want Raj to have that sort of fairytale romance that he's dreamed about all these years
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Which is a perfectly fine perspective to have, but the writers made no effort to set up any tension in the relationship between Anu and Raj
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to make Raj's decision to stay feel satisfying. And there was certainly no attempt to give Raj that fairytale ending
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since the breakup happened in the final episodes of the show's last season
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While improvements were certainly made in giving Raj the ability to actually speak to women
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Raj is the only central character who doesn't get a satisfying romantic conclusion
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Sitcoms like The Big Bang Theory are often bolstered by iconic performances
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from these side characters to the point where it's the side characters who are often remembered
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even more than the central ones. As it is, the entire show is left with a Raj-sized hole
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where audiences are left wondering why they became invested in the character's journey in
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the first place. If the writers don't seem to be invested in the character, why should the audiences
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