Raj Koothrappali/Kunal Nayyar: He Loves His Dog

[Lisin]

I'm so happy that Raj can finally talk to girls!

[barbedwire]

He is so darn loveable!  I like the scenes of he and Stuart hanging out together.  I also liked him with Lucy.  But the best is when he is skyping with his parents.

[Babalooie]

I'm new to this particular thread.  Just wondering if Raj is supposed to be metrosexual or what?  People were discussing the 5/1/15 episode and said that they were not surprised that he knew "Hard Knock Life" from Annie.  He is very comfortable in the kitchen and talks about skin care.  Is there some official word on his sexuality?  I'd love to see him with a nice significant other.

 

Edited because I found the answer to my question.

 

http://www.wattpad.com/33088777-the-big-bang-theory-metrosexual

Edited May 3, 2015 by Babalooie

[LoneHaranguer]

 

He tried to have sex with Penny in Leonard's bed.  Instead of completing the act, he prematurely fired all over her leg.

How do you know where he fired? Raj didn't even say how she "tried to help".

[SmithW6079]

I think he is more than a bit of a jerk.

He tried to have sex with Penny in Leonard's bed. Instead of completing the act, he prematurely fired all over her leg.

He tried to move in on Bernadette, hoping she would break up with Howard. That whole "Bernadette, please play my clarinet" thing.

I always thought nothing happened with Raj and Penny -- they ended up in bed, but he was too drunk to get it up. But as evidence of his dickishness, he not only let Penny believe they had had sex, but he boasted to the guys that he had banged her.

He didn't just hope Bernadette would break up with Howard, he had active fantasies involving Howard's death, which would make Bernadette turn to Raj for comfort.

Raj is as sleazy and disgusting as Howard was, but at least Howard was upfront about it.

Edited May 9, 2015 by SmithW6079

[CherryAmes]

I know it's weird to say this given the subject matter (and that this is a Lorre show) but I think that's a little too explicit for this show.  I know they mentioned once or twice that Raj got too "excited" to wait but I'm really pretty sure they never went into that kind of specific detail.

[takalotti]

From S05-E01

Penny: Look, honey, I was really drunk and made a huge mistake last night. We should’ve never slept together. It’s what ruins friendships.

Raj: You can’t ruin a friendship with sex. That’s like trying to ruin ice cream with chocolate sprinkles.

Penny: Come here. Just listen to me. I want to go back to the way we were before. You know, friends. No sprinkles.

Raj: Oh. All right.

Penny: Thank you.

Raj: Well, uh, as your friend, you might like to know that, um, we didn’t have sex in the conventional sense.

Penny: Oh, God. Did you pull some weird Indian crap on me?

Raj: No, no. After we got undressed and jumped in bed, you, you asked if I had protection.

Penny: Oh, you did, didn’t you?

Raj: Of course. I’m always packing. Anyway, um, I had trouble putting it on and you tried to help and, that was all she wrote.

Penny: So, we didn’t actually…

Raj: I did. It was beautiful.

Penny: Oh!

Raj: Penny, please, please promise me you won’t tell anybody about this.

Penny: Of course I won’t. No, I won’t.

Raj: Oh, good. Um, can I tell people that our love burned too bright and too quickly? Kind of a Candle in the Wind deal?

Penny: Sure.

[theredhead77]

Didn't Raj tell Emily that he and Penny hooked up and that was the reason Emily was a complete bitch to Penny when they met?

[takalotti]

Depends on your definition of "hooked up." It doesn't seem like he actually lied and said, "I had sex with Penny." But he did tell Emily about a hook up (meaning fooling around but not necessarily sex).

S08-E04

Emily: Okay. If you really want to talk about this, I do have a problem.

Penny: Oh, my God. Tell me, what did I do?

Emily: Look, it’s nothing. It’s just, Raj told me that a while ago, you two hooked up.

Penny: What? Oh, why would he say that?

Emily: Did it not happen?

Penny: Well, I wouldn’t exactly call it a hook-up.

Emily: Did you kiss?

Penny: Yeah.

Emily: Were you naked?

Penny: Yeah.

Emily: So, it was a hook-up.

Penny: No. Yeah.

...

Penny: You told Emily we hooked up?

Raj: Um, well, in my defence, I tell everybody.

Penny: Why would you say that?

Raj: We were having a conversation about past lovers.

Penny: We weren’t lovers. Come on. Everyone knows we didn’t sleep together. We got drunk and fooled around. Why couldn’t you just leave me out of it?

Raj: Well, we were being honest. You would leave me out of the conversation with the next guy if you dumped Leonard?

Leonard: Why say it?

Penny: Yes.

Raj: Well, I would never leave you off my list, and not just because, without you, we’re playing fast and loose with the word list.

[CherryAmes]

I just saw the episode from a few years back where Raj was worried he'd be deported and ends up working with (or for) Sheldon.  I don't know why I didn't wonder about this before but I'd really like to know how he managed to get through X number of years of school/college/post graduate plus working in a university environment and he never had to talk to women before?  We know he can only talk to women at this point because he drinks - which he had only recently discovered.  But are we supposed to believe the woman scientist who was interviewing him is the first time he ever had to directly to talk a woman in a professional environment let alone any other?  Ok yes I know, it's a sitcom :).

Edited September 18, 2015 by CherryAmes

[anna0852]

Just caught KN doing a guest spot on The Mindy Project. It took me an embarrassingly long time to recognize him. When he's not playing Raj, yowza!

[LoneHaranguer]

 

I don't know why I didn't wonder about this before but I'd really like to know how he managed to get through X number of years of school/college/post graduate plus working in a university environment and he never had to talk to women before?

What's the composition of his field? In four years of engineering school, the only woman I had to deal with in the way he has issues with was the Dean's secretary, and that was to see the Dean for a couple of atypical matters. He was okay with talking in front of a group containing women, so classes not taught by a woman or something like presenting e thesis wouldn't have been a problem

[CherryAmes]

 I am just not buying that he went to Cambridge and subsequently got work at an American university and managed to never have to be interviewed by, or taught by, a woman.   It's just one of the little inconsistencies that I sometimes nitpick over I admit I liked the unusualness of Raj's particular issue, at least it was pretty original  :).

[Homily]

I can see why it doesn't stand up to too much scrutiny but if selective mutism is a real thing what do people who have it do?  They can't all just stay home and never go to school or to work.  I know this show isn't supposed to be a documentary but when Beverly has been on it might have been interesting if she'd talked more about it.  Or maybe not.  Sometimes I just want my comedies to be funny not to be teaching me stuff!

[LoneHaranguer]

 

I can see why it doesn't stand up to too much scrutiny but if selective mutism is a real thing what do people who have it do?

It is a real thing, and according to its Wikipedia entry, it qualifies as a disability under U.S. law, so the school would have to do what it takes to accommodate him. It occurs to me that being taught by a woman actually might not be a problem at a large school where the instructor is lecturing to a big hall and there isn't much interaction with the students (in which he wouldn't have to participate).

[MaryMitch]

I believe all we know about Raj's selective mutism is that he was that way in the series pilot, and at that point in time Howard knew about it. We don't know when he developed it.  I'm just glad they finished up that particular plot line, because I found it tedious.

[BookThief]

Kunal Nayyar actually came to speak at the university I work at this week. I think all the people I went with had a good time. He shared his story from London to New Delhi to Portland, Oregon and how he got into acting (thought he could make friends as he was pretty lonely as an international student). He shared a few stories then took questions from the audience. Someone asked him to sing "Soft Kitty" and he did, as long as the audience did it too. In order to get his signature you basically had to buy his book (hey, he has a book!) but it was fun getting to meet him for just a second and getting a photo with him. Obviously I don't really *know* if he's a nice guy but he sure seemed like it. He was relaxed and had the audience laughing a lot. If you ever see him on the speaking circuit check it out!

[BooksRule]

I just started reading Kunal's book ('Yes, my accent is real') and so far it's really funny.  I'm only on chapter four, but I'm looking forward to the rest. 

 

I stayed up late and finished the book.  I thought it was really good.  It makes me look at 'Raj' a little differently, now that I know more about Kunal.

Edited October 16, 2015 by BooksRule

[Driad]

People have discussed Raj in several episode threads, but it seems efficient to have some general discussion about him here. Many of us agree that the character is not working well. Some would like to get rid of him. Certainly there are a lot of characters for a show with such short episodes. I prefer to improve him. They improved Howard from his original skeeviness, so IMO they could improve Raj if they tried.

Raj could take responsibility for his own happiness: live on his own salary and be single without whining. This is my preference because there are three couples already. Not everyone has to be in a couple. He could do interesting things either related to his job or not.

Or he could find “the right woman” or go into an arranged marriage. This has the drawback of adding a new character or bringing back an offstage character. Unless — as someone suggested — the other person is not in Los Angeles. Maybe she has a career in India or New York so they get together occasionally, Raj is “away” in some episodes, and we don’t meet her until maybe at the end of the series.

I would not want Raj to become gay at this point because after ten years it would look as if he turned to men because women don’t want him. 

[dungeonwriter]

I think him being forced to return to India and him Skyping in would be a huge benefit. It worked well with Howard at the I Space Station, and it could work well again to limit Raj's role (since they have nothing for him to do) while keeping him on the show. 

It would also shake up the dynamics a lot. The show needs to be shaken for us again to be stirred. 

[HyeChaps]

I miss Cinnamon.  

[greekmom]

I don't understand what happened with the lady who worked at the university? He went only one date.  

I would have thought she would have been a great match for Raj.  

[Driad]

Does Raj have an astrophysics job again, or is he still working with -- uh, for -- Sheldon?

[Literata]

On 2/21/2017 at 0:14 PM, Driad said:

I would not want Raj to become gay at this point because after ten years it would look as if he turned to men because women don’t want him. 

I've thought about this angle, too, but what I keep coming back to is the writers could make it entirely believable and handle it sensitively if they position it as: Raj has had such difficulty in relationships over the years because he's been trying so hard to feel the way he believed he should about women. As the son of conservative Indian parents, he repressed his sexual orientation so he wouldn't disappoint them, etc. IMO, it would make Raj a sympathetic character worth our time again. 

[Driad]

Good point, Literata.  It could be good if it were well written, but the odds are poor.

[wknt3]

8 hours ago, Driad said:

Good point, Literata.  It could be good if it were well written, but the odds are poor.

I can't see them going that way because not only is it hard to write well, even if they did pull it off it would upset a lot of people. Especially watching the reruns - all those "he's not gay he's just effeminate" jokes that weren't that funny in the first place probably become more oft putting, Plus how do the scenes with his parents play if they turn out to be right when the humor is supposed to come from their being wrong? And there's Howard and Raj and their "ersatz homosexual marriage to satisfy their need for intimacy." "You don't want to go down that rabbit hole." Etc. If they did that story in Season 4-5  it could have been well written and maybe avoided the character's stagnation. But at this point even if it was well done I can't see a way that it doesn't create more problems than it solves. Personally I think they need to let him grow as an individual and forget about pairing him with anyone, male, female, trigendered alien, etc. I've said before that I'd like to see him have some professional success. Maybe becoming a popular professor or a Neil deGrasse Tyson type popular science writer .  It would let them get back to the university, give us new stories, and let him grow and become interesting and sympathetic without any baggage.

[BlossomCulp]

A lot of people were unhappy that Sheldon turned out not to be asexual as many had speculated that he was based on his behavior to the point where Amy was introduced.  In a way having Raj suddenly turn out to be gay would be doing the same thing.  Taking a character with an established history (excellent points wknt3) and completely changing them just to make for different stories.  I wouldn't have cared if Raj had always been gay I would care if they have a man become gay because, basically, he keeps striking out with women.  Not that doing something like that would surprise me given this is a Chuck Lorre show when all is said and done.

[anna0852]

You can't compare Sheldon to Raj. It was never outright stated that Sheldon was asexual. His issues seemed to be focused on germs and having better things to do. Meeting Amy caused him to re-evaluate.

Raj, on the other hand, has been explicitly stated as straight multiple times over the years. 

[BlossomCulp]

True. People read into Sheldon's behavior what they believed to be true about him and a lot of people were angry when they allowed Sheldon to develop feelings for Amy that eventually included a sexual relationship.  It's somewhat the same with Raj.  The show has played around with the idea that Raj could be, even should be, gay.  But just  like Sheldon not being interested in women/sex did not make him asexual, Raj being "metrosexual" and having a difficult time having successful relationships with women does not make him gay.

Edited March 23, 2017 by BlossomCulp

[Literata]

59 minutes ago, BlossomCulp said:

Raj being "metrosexual" and having a difficult time having successful relationships with women does not make him gay.

No, not at all. But it's plausible that he could come to the realization that he is in fact gay, despite his and others' protestations over the years. In real life, realizing/accepting one's orientation is often a process. Whatever the case, I'd just like the writers to do a better job with someone who was originally one of my favorite characters, and is now insufferable. 

[CherryAmes]

Raj isn't gay, he's an ass.  He has a sweet and sensitive side which when they explore that can make him very likable but for the most part Raj is presented as being a very entitled guy who wants to "party with the pretty girls".  I guess I've never felt the same about Raj since the episode where he met Lucy at the party at the comic book store and after making a lovely speech to a room full of lonely people he hooked up with Lucy and told them "see you later losers".