Raju leaves Hyderabad laughing for a cause

It was laughter time in the city when India’s top Hindi standup comic, Raju Srivastava took Srinagar Colony’s jam-packed Sri Satya Sai Nigamagamam by storm on Sunday evening as he performed to spread awareness about the cause of eradicating leprosy.

The programme titled ‘Raju Hazir Ho’ was organised by the Goodbye Leaprosy Trust (GBLT) and had about 800 people, who turned up to watch Raju Srivastava live. And, he didn’t disappoint. With a mix of humour, dance and singing, Raju kept the crowd going for over two hours.

Raju, who is known across the country for his roles in films like ‘Journey Bombay to Goa’ and his appearance in ‘The Great Indian Laughter Challenge’, was on top gear; the audience hardly got time to catch a breath, laughing as they were.

Hyderabad did not spare any expense in expressing their love for the comedy maverick as they applauded his every move. Some people even stood up mid way through the show and requested Raju to do their favourite sets, which he ever so graciously did.

Raju was accompanied by Nandi Award ainner Vinod Babu’s orchestra ‘Sangeet Sitara’, who got the crowd humming their favourite numbers from the 70s.

“It was a truly amazing experience. It is my marriage anniversary today and I couldn’t have imagined spending it in a much better way,” said Antareep Mahanti, a Google employee who was there to watch the show with his wife.

Raju also spread the message of fighting leprosy during the show. “Don’t fear leprosy, it is curable and support people who have it. We can work together to take get it out of the system,” he said. Posters and banners of their mission of eradicating leprosy were set up everywhere.

Later, Association of People affected by leprosy president V Narasappa was felicitated by Raju Shrivastava.