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Not many are aware about it, but actor-comedian Rajiv Thakur was the first person who discovered Bharti Singh’s iconic character Lalli. Back in DAV college in Amritsar, the comedian’s theatre teachers were Sudesh Lehri, Kapil Sharma, and Rajiv. In a recent podcast with Bharti and Harsh Limbachiya, Rajiv opened up about the time he challenged Kapil to see her performance as Lalli and how Bharti is still grateful to him for motivating her.
During the conversation, Rajiv shared that he was once out for a break, but when he came back, Bharti was having fun with her girl gang. He overheard her while she was mimicking an uncle’s voice during a suhagraat scene and was duly impressed. “There was no punch in her lines, it was just the Lalli voice that had a ticklish feeling. Right after that, there was a zonal contest in which my skit scored the second position for the first time. Everyone was disheartened because zonal is between Amritsar and Gurdaspur (in Punjab), while finals will also have Jalandhar competing with us. They thought how will we win there?”
Having the reputation of a strict teacher, Rajiv Thakur came back inside and asked Bharti authoritatively, ‘What were you doing’. While mimicking her in an afraid voice, he shared “She was so scared and saying, ‘Kuch nahi kar rahi thi (I wasn’t doing anything)’. I swear on my mom, I haven’t done anything. All of them were scared that sir heard everything. I said, ‘Do again whatever you were doing’. She fell on my feet and kept saying, ‘I didn’t do anything, they made me do it’.”
The actor-comedian continued, “I told her that I liked it, I can get you the first position if you do it. I took half an hour only to write her part again. I kept only Bharti’s act for good five minutes, which was actually supposed to be a minute. Isko naam maine diya Lalli (I gave her the name). I asked her to laugh to deliver the punch, I gave her a laughter before the joke.”
He added, “But when I saw Lalli, I challenged them. I challenged Kapil (comedian Kapil Sharma), maine unko bola ‘Iss baar aake dekhin yeh ladki’ (Come and look at this girl). I knew that no one can win this skit except me. I changed the skit for the finals, kept Bharti’s Lalli act towards the end for closing.”
Even Kapil Sharma was intrigued to see her act. Bharti added, “Yes, Kapil bhai said that I am only here from Jalandhar to see your act. I also want to see who is this girl on whom Rajiv is putting so much money. He was actually rolling on the floor laughing by the end of the act.”
Bharti Singh is forever grateful to that moment when Rajiv Thakur explored the character of Lalli in her. “Thank you so much sir, itna acha character dene ke liye, ki aaj bhi main usi ka khaa rahi hu (My livelihood to this day is thanks to the character),” she said. To which Rajiv added, “Maine diya nahi hai, bas discover kiya hai. We did this character for three years, gained the first position in all the three years.”
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