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Raj Koothrappali

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Rajesh Ramayan Koothrappali, PhD
Kunal Nayyar as Dr. Rajesh Koothrappali
First appearance"Pilot"
Portrayed byKunal Nayyar
In-universe information
NicknameRaj
GenderMale
TitlePh.D.
OccupationAstrophysicist
RelativesDr. V.M. Koothrappali (father), Mrs. Koothrappali (mother), Sanjay (cousin), Venkatesh (cousin), at least one uncle
ReligionHindu
NationalityIndian

Dr. Rajesh Ramayan "Raj" Koothrappali (Hindi: राजेश रामायण कूथ्राप्पाली) is a fictional character on the CBS television series The Big Bang Theory, portrayed by actor Kunal Nayyar.

Rajesh is Howard Wolowitz's (Simon Helberg) best friend and one of the central characters of the show. He works as an astrophysicist in the Physics Department at Caltech. His principal characteristic is a case of selective mutism which doesn't allow him to talk to women.

Personality

Rajesh, who is normally called Raj or by his surname Koothrappali, is from New Delhi, India, yet despises Indian food, and his knowledge regarding Indian culture sometimes is not very accurate. He is normally seen wearing a layered combination of a shirt and a vest, khakis, a purple jacket, and all accompanied by a red hat in early episodes.

All of the guys enjoy playing Halo every Wednesday at Sheldon and Leonard's apartment. They also play Age of Conan excessively, with Raj stating he has experienced gaming addiction.[1]

In general terms, Raj is more patient with Sheldon than Leonard, Howard, or Penny; however Sheldon is oblivious to this as he once cut him off as a friend.[2]

Raj has a "nervous bladder", meaning he gets an urge to relieve himself when under stress. This was shown when Penny got angry at him, and when he accompanied Leonard to confront Kurt over some money Kurt owed Penny.[3]

When hanging out with the guys, despite his particular Indian accent, Raj is noted for using slang ("fo' shizzle") and excessively using the word "dude".

Selective mutism

Raj's principal characteristic is his shyness and inability to speak around women, which is a recognized medical condition known as selective mutism. In the show, this was alluded to by Dr. Beverly Hofstadter, Leonard's mother.[4] Raj is able to speak to women only when they are part of a crowd, when he is not directly addressing them, or if he is unaware of their presence.[5] Additionally, he has no problem speaking to his mother.

Since many of the scenes involve Penny, when Penny is around, Raj remains silent until she leaves, or alternatively he whispers what he wants to say to Howard, who then repeats his words or responds to his question out loud. One time during a conversation, Raj accidentally uttered a few words ("good story") much to the surprise of his friends, but he immediately realized Penny was there and he shut his mouth promptly and covered it with both hands.[6] A recurring gag is for Raj to find himself left all alone when his friends make plans to go somewhere, his selective mutism forbidding him from speaking up to join in.

Alcohol appears to suppress Raj's social anxiety, since he is capable of prolonged conversations with women after drinking. However it also tends to make him arrogant and obnoxious.[5] When the guys took a train to an academic conference in San Francisco, Raj was able to talk to Summer Glau (playing herself) while drinking beer. However, the moment he found out the beer was actually non-alcoholic beer, the placebo effect stopped and he reverted to his usual timid self.[7]

Family

Raj regularly communicates with his parents, Dr. and Mrs. V.M. Koothrappali back in India via webcam. When they become meddling or judgemental, he "brings his parents" into Leonard and Sheldon's apartment via his laptop. In the Season 2 finale Mrs. Koothrappali and Mrs. Wolowitz have an argument because the latter doesn't believe that there isn't a single Outback Steakhouse restaurant in India.

A running gag involving Raj is him claiming to have grown up in poverty in India, only for his friends to remind him that his father is a gynaecologist and drives a Bentley.[5]

Raj's cousin, Sanjay (or, as he says his friends know him as "Dave from AT&T Customer Service"), works in a call centre, and is mentioned in a number of episodes. One time, Raj was seen trying to avoid going back to India for his cousin's wedding, since Raj's parents had once more arranged a date for him.[8]

Another of Raj's cousin, named Venkatesh, is a lawyer that has poor negotiation skills, even admitting that he himself is useless.

Work

Raj is a brilliant astrophysicist in the Physics Department at Caltech, being known for a noted publication on Kuiper Belt object size distribution.[9]

For his discovery of a planetary object beyond the Kuiper Belt, 2008 NQ17, which he named "PlanetBollywood", Raj was included in People magazine's "30 (Visionaries) Under 30 (Years of Age) to Watch", received a larger office, and became a celebrity of sorts, drawing the envy of his friends.[10]

After six months of failed research on the composition of trans-Neptunian objects, Raj feared the prospect of being deported back to India (at which point he describes spending his time at work as "mostly checking e-mail and messing up Wikipedia entries"). To stay in the country, he sought out a research position in stellar evolution with another professor; the job proposition failed as the research team included an attractive female, and Raj was forced to drink. Raj ended up working alongside Sheldon "exploring the string theory implications of gamma rays from dark matter annihilations".[9] Ironically, he noted once before wanting to be the "Shiva of particle astrophysics".[5]

Relationships

As suspected from his pathology, Raj hasn't been involved in any lasting romantic relationship.

He once dated Lalita Gupta, a childhood friend, under the influence of alcohol. The date went wrong and Lalita left the drunk and obnoxious Raj to have dinner with Sheldon.[5]

When Raj was invited to People magazine's reception, he became drunk again and presented Penny to his parents (via webcam) as his girlfriend. Later, he had to apologize to Penny for his behavior. Although he tried apologizing through a written note, Penny forced him to utter a barely audible "sorry".[10]

Raj also sought to date Sheldon's attractive fraternal twin sister, Missy. To do so, he took an experimental drug to correct his anxiety disorder. However, he was unable to ask her out as the effect of the medication wore off.[11]

When Sheldon, Leonard, Howard and Raj were on a train to San Francisco, the latter three tried talking to Summer Glau. After drinking what he thought was a beer, Raj talked to Summer, being flirty and smooth and she took a liking to him. When Howard pointed out that his beer was non-alcoholic, Raj stopped in the middle of his conversation, was embarrassed and rushed away from Summer without saying anymore.

Despite both being heterosexual, Raj and Howard often act like they are in a homosexual relationship. This was described by Leonard's mother, Dr. Beverly Hofstadter, as an "ersatz homosexual marriage".[4] Even Raj's parents are aware of this, as Raj's mother once noted "the closest thing we have to a daughter-in-law is that Jewish boy Howard!", which an alarmed Raj quickly denied.[12] It is amusing to see that Raj still takes up a cliché "female" role in many arguments with Howard, accusing him repeatedly of running off for every slightly better looking person.

Creation and casting

Raj did not appear in the original, unaired pilot of the series, where only Sheldon, Leonard and a much different version of the Penny character, called Katie, were present. The test audiences reacted negatively to Katie, but liked Sheldon and Leonard; thus, in the new pilot, Raj and Howard were added.[13] Series co-creator Bill Prady stated: "The idea was, if they like these first two guys, let’s give them two more".[13] Rajesh's social anxiety around women is inspired by a former co-worker of series co-creator Bill Prady.[14][15] Originally the character was called "Dave", and was an American born to Indian parents. However, this was changed when Nayyar was given the role, because he was "so Indian".[16]

See also

References

  1. ^ "The Barbarian Sublimation". The Big Bang Theory. Season 2. Episode 3 (20). October 6, 2008. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help)
  2. ^ "The Friendship Algorithm". The Big Bang Theory. Season 2. Episode 13 (30). January 19, 2009. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help)
  3. ^ "The Financial Permeability". The Big Bang Theory. Season 2. Episode 2 (19). February 2, 2009. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ a b "The Maternal Capacitance". The Big Bang Theory. Season 2. Episode 15 (32). February 9, 2009. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help)
  5. ^ a b c d e "The Grasshopper Experiment". The Big Bang Theory. Season 1. Episode 8 (8). November 12, 2007. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help)
  6. ^ "The Bat Jar Conjecture". The Big Bang Theory. Season 1. Episode 13 (13). April 21, 20087. {{cite episode}}: Check date values in: |airdate= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help); Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help)
  7. ^ "The Terminator Decoupling". The Big Bang Theory. Season 2. Episode 17 (34). March 9, 2009. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help)
  8. ^ "The Guitarist Amplification". The Big Bang Theory. Season 3. Episode 7 (47). November 9, 2009. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help)
  9. ^ a b "The Pirate Solution". The Big Bang Theory. Season 3. Episode 4 (44). October 12, 2009. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help)
  10. ^ a b "The Griffin Equivalency". The Big Bang Theory. Season 2. Episode 4 (21). October 13, 2008. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help)
  11. ^ "The Porkchop Indeterminacy". The Big Bang Theory. Season 1. Episode 15 (15). May 5, 2008. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help)
  12. ^ "The Cornhusker Vortex". The Big Bang Theory. Season 3. Episode 6 (46). November 2, 2009. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help)
  13. ^ a b "'Big Bang Theory': 'We didn't anticipate how protective the audience would feel about our guys'". Variety. 2009-5-8. Retrieved 2010-1-31. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  14. ^ "Quantum Mechanics of The Big Bang Theory". The Big Bang Theory DVD featurette. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help)
  15. ^ "Come up with a new theory: Sheldon does NOT have Asperger's". TV Squad. 2009-8-14. Retrieved 2009-1-18. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  16. ^ "Paley Festival Recap '09: THE BIG BANG THEORY". theTVaddict.com. 2009-4-17. Retrieved 2010-1-20. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
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