Rajesh Koothrappali

Rajesh Ramayan "Raj" Koothrappali
Background information
Television programs	The Big Bang Theory
Portrayed by	Kunal Nayyar (The Big Bang Theory) Rishabh Prabhat (Young Sheldon)
Character information
Full name	Dr. Rajesh Ramayan "Raj" Koothrappali
Other names	Raj, Koothrappali, Dr. Koothrappali, Brown Dynamite, "An Ass", Roger, Dr. Apu, Slumdog Millionaire, Dr. Cutie-Pie
Personality	Smart, intelligent, brave, clever, shy,
Appearance	Slender, warm tan skin, black hair and brown eyes. An layered combination of a shirt, a sweater vest, and a windbreaker with cargo pants and skate shoes. And he sometimes wore a red baseball cap
Occupation	Astrophysicist
Alignment	Good
Nationality	Indian
Birthday	October 6, 1981
Goal	To be able to date with a woman (failed sometimes) To become less lonely (succeeded)
Home	New Delhi (his birthplace) His Apartment (evicted) Apartment 4A (temporarily) Bert's Garage (currently)
Pets	Cinnamon
Allies	Sheldon Cooper, Leonard Hofstadter, Penny Hofstadter, Howard Wolowitz Amy Farrah Fowler, Bernadette Rostenkowski-Wolowitz, Stuart Bloom,
Likes	Comic books, Cinnamon, Howard Wolowitz, hanging out with Leonard, Howard and Sheldon, being with a girl at ease,
Dislikes	talking to woman without alcohol (formerly), any of his girlfriends dumping him, Aquaman, Sheldon's behavior, insects, Howard's bickering towards him, India being hot, loud and overcrowded around him,
Powers and abilities	Talking to women by being drunk (until the Season 6 finale)
Quote	(to Leonard about his accent, whilst laughing )"It's your American accent. Everything you say sounds stupid." (to Sheldon, Leonard, and Howard after he is dressed like Aquaman)"I've said this before and I'll say it again: Aquaman sucks!

Dr. Rajesh Ramayan "Raj" Koothrappali, Ph.D., is one of the main characters from the sitcom The Big Bang Theory. He is an astrophysicist, Howard Wolowitz's best friend and a member of the gang.

He is portrayed by Kunal Nayyar.

Background

Raj often hangs out at Leonard and Sheldon's apartment, though he has his own apartment (the Raj Mahal) in Pasadena. Raj fell in love with astronomy while attending Cambridge University. Originally from New Delhi, Raj has an Indian English accent and, ironically, dislikes Indian food and culture. He frequently portrays himself as having come from humble origins and growing up in poverty in India, only for his friends to remind him that his father is a gynecologist, drives a Bentley, and has a house full of servants. For the first six seasons, his principal characteristic was a case of selective mutism social anxiety disorder, which did not allow him to talk to women outside of his family. This condition could be suppressed through alcohol (or if he thought he was drinking alcohol) or experimental social anxiety medications; however, the former usually ended up changing his personality, making him more obnoxious and overbearing, while the latter tended to have unpredictable side-effects.

Physical Appearance

Raj is 5' 7" (1.70 m), with warm tan skin, black hair and brown eyes. He is normally seen wearing a layered combination of a shirt, a sweater vest, and a windbreaker with cargo pants and skate shoes; he wore a red baseball cap in the Pilot.

Early Life

Rajesh Koothrappali was born in New Delhi, India on October 6, 1981 to Dr. V.M. Koothrappali and Mrs. Koothrappali. He also has a younger sister Priya and also 3 brothers and 1 other sister. While growing up in India, he didn't really like it there and grew to dislike his country's food and culture. Later, Raj left India and moved to Pasadena, California in the United States of America. There, he met Howard Wolowitz who became his best friend and Howard's mother made Raj feel welcome into their house.(Although she thought he was the gardner for two years)

Appearances

Season 1

In the Pilot, Raj and Howard meet Leonard and Sheldon's new neighbor, Penny, who quickly learns of Raj's inability to speak to women (unless they're in his family).

However, in "The Grasshopper Experiment" everyone discovers that Raj can actually talk to a woman by being drunk, as evidenced when Penny gives him a cocktail while going through bar tending training.

In "The Porkchop Indeterminacy", Raj takes some drugs as another way to talk to women. When Sheldon's twin sister Missy Cooper comes for a visit, Raj, Howard and Leonard begin to clash over who is going out with her and the three engage in a fight. Raj was the third person to ask Missy out, but his drugs wear off and leaves defeated.

Season 2

In "The Griffin Equivalency", Raj gets some glory after being featured in People Magazine, when the guys fail to take interest, Raj angrily leaves Leonard and Sheldon's apartment. The next day, The guys apologies and invite him out for dinner, before Gablehauser congratulates Raj for his work an invites him for lunch in the president's dinner room. Raj brags about his work to the guys and invites Penny to People's reception. After the party, Raj talks to his parents, but leaves to throw up. Raj tries to give Penny an apology note but Penny forces him to verbally apologies, who does so and Penny forgives him.

Season 3

In "The Pirate Solution" Raj's work hits a dead end, causing him to have concerns of being deported back to India, he begins working for Sheldon in order to keep his visa valid. He also become jealous when Leonard and Howard become too busy with their girlfriends to hang out.

Season 4

In "The Hot Troll Deviation" Raj buys a desk bigger than Sheldon's desk and the two fight over in the office (in the later episodes, Raj and Sheldon have gotten along with each other and made amends).

In The Irish Pub Formulation" Raj becomes furious after hearing that Leonard started a relationship with his sister while she's in town, until Leonard turns the tables on him by revealing that he used Sheldon's toothbrush to clean his gums, much to Sheldon's disgust. However, Raj manages to persuade to be still friends after revealing he bought an Thomas the Tank Engine toy train with real puffing smoke for Thanksgiving.

In "The Roommate Transmogrification", Raj and Penny become closer friends, up to the point where they allegedly have a one-night stand.

Season 5

In "The Countdown Reflection" Raj suggests that they do Howard and Bernadette's wedding on the roof since he knows that as an astrophysicist that there is a satellite above Pasadena, so it can photograph the ceremony from space.

Season 6

In "The Tangible Affection Proof", Raj begins a relationship with a woman called Lucy, but in "The Monster Isolation", Raj becomes a hermit when Lucy dumps him on their date, until Howard brings him back to his senses.

In "The Bon Voyage Reaction". Lucy breaks up with him when he pushes her to meet his friends. When Penny visits a miserable Raj, he gets over his selective mutism and is now finally able to talk to all women.

Season 7

Raj begins a relationship with a dermatologist, Emily Sweeney.

Raj pays 0 care to Howard's unhappiness getting a lightsaber belt buckle with a sexual nature

Season 8

In "The Expedition Approximation", Raj continues to work with Sheldon on Dark Matter testing, when both Sheldon and Raj go down the very hot mines of the university for an expedition, Sheldon cowardly leaves Raj at the mercy of rats after spending 11 minutes down there.

He then starts to question his relationship with Emily, wondering if she really is the right person for him.

Season 9

In "The Valentino Submergence", he breaks up with Emily so that he can date Claire. But in "The Application Deterioration", he and Emily have gotten back together, as seen in the last scene of the episode, when they are both lying in her bed.

Raj meets a screenwriter and bartender named Claire, and gets involved in a love triangle with her and Emily.

Season 10

Raj is no longer in a relationship, though he finds an interest in his workplace's cleaning lady, Isabella.

Relationships

Howard Wolowitz

Raj has been good friends with Howard since he first moved to the United States. For the fifteen years that followed, Howard has teased and joked around with Raj most of the time. In The Confidence Erosion (S11E10), Raj's father expresses his beliefs that his son's lack of confidence is because of Howard's teasing, leading to Raj cutting off contact with Howard, much to the latter's chagrin. However, they become friends again in the next episode, The Celebration Reverberation (S11E11), while taking out their frustrations on each other.

Gallery

Despite their friendship and creepy past, Raj was capable of going too far for Howard

Trivia

• Raj's selective mutism even applies in his dreams, the notable nightmare he had is with Siri as shown in "The Beta Test Initiation".
• He has a Ph.D. in Astrophysics.
• The baseball cap Raj wears in the Pilot bears the number 42 (the answer to life, the universe, and everything) on it.
• Raj is 5 ft. 7 in (1.70 m) tall – the height of his actor Kunal Nayyar. This measurement is two-and-a-half inches below the average height for males in the U.S. and two inches above the average height for males in India. In "The Transporter Malfunction", he states that, next to Howard and Bernadette, he looks 6 ft. 2 in (1.88 m) tall.
• Like Sheldon, Amy, Bernadette, Leonard, and Leslie Winkle, Raj lives in an apartment, which he calls his "Raj Mahal".
• Raj is not at all serious about his Hindu faith and eats beef, which is frowned upon by most Hindus.
• Raj calls his skin tone "Melt-In-Your-Mouth Caramel".
• Raj, much like Howard, despises many of Sheldon's antics, and the two managed to get Sheldon on a date with Amy Farrah Fowler on a dating website in "The Lunar Excitation", much to Sheldon's dismay.
• Raj's case of selective mutism was first evident in the Pilot episode.
• Raj's selective mutism does not apply to his female family members such as his mother and his sister Priya Koothrappali.
• Raj dislikes Aquaman, and he is always chosen to dress as Aquaman, due to the guys having a costume competition.

External links

• Rajesh Koothrappali on The Big Bang Theory Wiki

v - e - d

Media The Big Bang Theory • Young Sheldon • Video Characters Main Characters: Leonard Hofstadter • Sheldon Cooper • Penny Hofstadter • Howard Wolowitz • Rajesh Koothrappali • Amy Farrah Fowler • Bernadette Rostenkowski-Wolowitz • Stuart Bloom • Emily Sweeney • Leslie Winkle Recurring Characters: Barry Kripke • Wil Wheaton • Althea • Kurt • Eric Gablehauser • Mary Cooper • Debbie Wolowitz • V.M. Koothrappali • Mrs. Koothrappali • Mike • Stephanie Barnett • Beverley Hofstadter • President Siebert • Zack Johnson • Priya Koothrappali • Wyatt • Mike Rostenkowski • Mrs. Rostenkowski • Alex Jensen • Janine Davis • Lucy • Professor Proton • David Gibbs • Claire • Stephen Hawking • Alfred Hofstadter • Colonel Richard Williams • Denise Minor Characters: Christy Vanderbel • Lalita Gupta • Toby Loobenfeld • Dennis Kim • Dimitri • Missy Cooper • Blain • Tom • Octavia • Maria • Lourdes • Ramona Nowitzki • Kathy O'Brian • David Underhill • Alicia • Mikayla • Captain Sweatpants • Lonely Larry • Dr. Crawley • Bethany • Sarah • Skeeter • Professor Laughlin • Abby • Martha • Officer Hackett • Sandy • Glen • Venkatesh Koothrappali • Sebastian • Louie/Louise • Joyce Kim • Mrs. Gunderson • Joy • Mrs. Fowler • Angela Page • Professor Glenn • Mrs. Latham • Todd Zarnecki • Susan • Randall • Colonel Richard Williams Episodes Season 1: Pilot • The Big Bran Hypothesis • The Fuzzy Boots Corollary • The Luminous Fish Effect • The Hamburger Postulate • The Middle-Earth Paradigm • The Dumpling Paradox • The Grasshopper Experiment • The Cooper-Hofstadter Polarization • The Loobenfeld Decay • The Pancake Batter Anomaly • The Jerusalem Duality • The Bat Jar Conjecture • The Nerdvana Annihilation • The Porkchop Indeterminacy • The Peanut Reaction • The Tangerine Factor Season 2: The Bad Fish Paradigm • The Codpiece Topology • The Barbarian Sublimation • The Griffin Equivalency • The Euclid Alternative • The Cooper-Nowitzki Theorem • The Panty Piñata Polarization • The Lizard-Spock Expansion • The White Asparagus Triangulation • The Vartabedian Conundrum • The Bath Item Gift Hypothesis • The Killer Robot Instability • The Friendship Algorithm • The Financial Permeability • The Maternal Capacitance • The Cushion Saturation • The Terminator Decoupling • The Work Song Nanocluster • The Dead Hooker Juxtaposition • The Hofstadter Isotope • The Vegas Renormalization • The Classified Materials Turbulence • The Monopolar Expedition Season 3: The Electric Can Opener Fluctuation • The Jiminy Conjecture • The Gothowitz Deviation • The Pirate Solution • The Creepy Candy Coating Corollary • The Cornhusker Vortex • The Guitarist Amplification • The Adhesive Duck Deficiency • The Vengeance Formulation • The Gorilla Experiment • The Maternal Congruence • The Psychic Vortex • The Bozeman Reaction • The Einstein Approximation • The Large Hadron Collision • The Excelsior Acquisition • The Precious Fragmentation • The Pants Alternative • The Wheaton Recurrence • The Spaghetti Catalyst • The Plimpton Stimulation • The Staircase Implementation • The Lunar Excitation Season 4: The Robotic Manipulation • The Cruciferous Vegetable Amplification • The Zazzy Substitution • The Hot Troll Deviation • The Desperation Emanation • The Irish Pub Formulation • The Apology Insufficiency • The 21-Second Excitation • The Boyfriend Complexity • The Alien Parasite Hypothesis • The Justice League Recombination • The Bus Pants Utilization • The Love Car Displacement • The Thespian Catalyst • The Benefactor Factor • The Cohabitation Formulation • The Toast Derivation • The Prestidigitation Approximation • The Zarnecki Incursion • The Herb Garden Germination • The Agreement Dissection • The Wildebeest Implementation • The Engagement Reaction • The Roommate Transmogrification Season 5: The Skank Reflex Analysis • The Infestation Hypothesis • The Pulled Groin Extrapolation • The Wiggly Finger Catalyst • The Russian Rocket Reaction • The Rhinitis Revelation • The Good Guy Fluctuation • The Isolation Permutation • The Ornithophobia Diffusion • The Flaming Spittoon Acquisition • The Speckerman Recurrence • The Shiny Trinket Maneuver • The Recombination Hypothesis • The Beta Test Initiation • The Friendship Contraction • The Vacation Solution • The Rothman Disintegration • The Werewolf Transformation • The Weekend Vortex • The Transporter Malfunction • The Hawking Excitation • The Stag Convergence • The Launch Acceleration • The Countdown Reflection Season 6: The Date Night Variable • The Decoupling Fluctuation • The Higgs Boson Observation • The Re-Entry Minimization • The Holographic Excitation • The Extract Obliteration • The Habitation Configuration • The 43 Peculiarity • The Parking Lot Escalation • The Fish Guts Displacement • The Santa Simulation • The Egg Salad Equivalency • The Bakersfield Expedition • The Cooper/Kripke Inversion • The Spoiler Alert Segmentation • The Tangible Affection Proof • The Monster Isolation • The Contractual Obligation Implementation • The Closet Reconfiguration • The Tenure Turbulence • The Closure Alternative • The Proton Resurgence • The Love Spell Potential • The Bon Voyage Reaction Season 7: The Hofstadter Insufficiency • The Deception Verification • The Scavenger Vortex • The Raiders Minimization • The Workplace Proximity • The Romance Resonance • The Proton Displacement • The Itchy Brain Simulation • The Thanksgiving Decoupling • The Discovery Dissipation • The Cooper Extraction • The Hesitation Ramification • The Occupation Recalibration • The Convention Conundrum • The Locomotive Manipulation • The Table Polarization • The Friendship Turbulence • The Mommy Observation • The Indecision Amalgamation • The Relationship Diremption • The Anything Can Happen Recurrence • The Proton Transmogrification • The Gorilla Dissolution • The Status Quo Combustion Season 8: The Locomotion Interruption • The Junior Professor Solution • The First Pitch Insufficiency • The Hook-up Reverberation • The Focus Attenuation • The Expedition Approximation • The Misinterpretation Agitation • The Prom Equivalency • The Septum Deviation • The Champagne Reflection • The Clean Room Infiltration • The Space Probe Disintegration • The Anxiety Optimization • The Troll Manifestation • The Comic Book Store Regeneration • The Intimacy Acceleration • The Colonization Application • The Leftover Thermalization • The Skywalker Incursion • The Fortification Implementation • The Communication Deterioration • The Graduation Transmission • The Maternal Combustion • The Commitment Determination Season 9: The Matrimonial Momentum • The Separation Oscillation • The Bachelor Party Corrosion • The 2003 Approximation • The Perspiration Implementation • The Helium Insufficiency • The Spock Resonance • The Mystery Date Observation • The Platonic Permutation • The Earworm Reverberation • The Opening Night Excitation • The Sales Call Sublimation • The Empathy Optimization • The Meemaw Materialization • The Valentino Submergence • The Positive Negative Reaction • The Celebration Experimentation • The Application Deterioration • The Solder Excursion Diversion • The Big Bear Precipitation • The Viewing Party Combustion • The Fermentation Bifurcation • The Line Substitution Solution • The Convergence-Convergence Season 10: The Conjugal Conjecture • The Military Miniaturization • The Dependence Transcendence • The Cohabitation Experimentation • The Hot Tub Contamination • The Fetal Kick Catalyst • The Veracity Elasticity • The Brain Bowl Incubation • The Geology Elevation • The Property Division Collision • The Birthday Synchronicity • The Holiday Summation • The Romance Recalibration • The Emotion Detection Automation • The Locomotion Reverberation • The Allowance Evaporation • The Comic-Con Conundrum • The Escape Hatch Identification • The Collaboration Fluctuation • The Recollection Dissipation • The Separation Agitation • The Cognition Regeneration • The Gyroscopic Collapse • The Long Distance Dissonance Season 11: The Proposal Proposal • The Retraction Reaction • The Relaxation Integration • The Explosion Implosion • The Collaboration Contamination • The Proton Regeneration • The Geology Methodology • The Tesla Recoil • The Bitcoin Entanglement • The Confidence Erosion • The Celebration Reverberation • The Matrimonial Metric • The Solo Oscillation • The Separation Triangulation • The Novelization Correlation • The Neonatal Nomenclature • The Athenaeum Allocation • The Gates Excitation • The Tenant Disassociation • The Reclusive Potential • The Comet Polarization • The Monetary Insufficiency • The Sibling Realignment • The Bow Tie Asymmetry Season 12: The Conjugal Configuration • The Wedding Gift Wormhole • The Procreation Calculation • The Tam Turbulence • The Planetarium Collision • The Imitation Perturbation • The Grant Allocation Derivation • The Consummation Deviation • The Citation Negation • The VCR Illumination • The Paintball Scattering • The Propagation Proposition • The Confirmation Polarization • The Meteorite Manifestation • The Donation Oscillation • The D & D Vortex • The Conference Valuation • The Laureate Accumulation • The Inspiration Deprivation • The Decision Reverberation • The Plagiarism Schism • The Maternal Conclusion • The Change Constant • The Stockholm Syndrome Locations The Apartment Building • Apartment 4A • Apartment 4B • The Elevator • California Institute of Technology • Wolowitz House • The Comic Center of Pasadena • Pasadena • The Cheesecake Factory • Raj's Apartment • Amy's Apartment • Howard and Bernadette's Apartment • The Stairs • Sheldon's Old Office • Raj's Old Office • Sheldon's New Office • Howard's Lab • The University Cafeteria • Kripke's Plasma Lab • International Space Station • The Kinetics Lab Songs Transportations See Also Unaired Pilot