Raj Bahadur is a retired Indian bus driver with the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC). He is famous for being the best friend of legendary Indian actor Rajinikanth.
Wiki/Biography
P Raj Bahadur was born in 1945 in Chamrajpet, Bangalore (76 years old in 2021).
appearance
Height (approximately): 5′7″
Hair Color: Salt and Pepper
Eye color: black
family
He lives in Bangalore with his brother’s family.
Friendship with Rajinikanth
Raj Bahadur met Rajinikanth in 1970 when Raj started working as a bus driver and Rajinikanth joined the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) as a bus conductor. In an interview, Raj said that he discovered Rajinikanth’s acting talent when he used to perform at employee association events. He said,
Even though he was a conductor like many others, he was definitely talented. We used to see him in trade union plays and he always played the lead role. He’s really great at acting. But he never dreamed of becoming an actor. Once, I told him that he had all the talent and ability to be a movie actor. He wasn’t interested in getting into movies, but I pushed him. “
He then forced Rajinikanth to join an acting school in Chennai. At that time, Raj’s salary was Rs. 400, he had sent Rs. Rajinikanth was given $200 every month while he was training at the acting school. Later, Rajinikanth acted in a drama that had Tamil director K Balachander as the chief guest. He liked Ragini’s performance and asked him to learn Tamil. Rajinikanth went to Raj and told him that he must learn Tamil as per the director’s instructions. Speaking about the same incident in an interview, Raj said,
Ragini came to Bangalore and told me that Balachand asked him to learn Tamil but said nothing. I told him that if such a big director said so, there would be a future. As far as I know Tamil, from then on we decided to speak only in Tamil. Over the next two months, Rajinikanth became fluent in Tamil. The next time Ragini met the director, Balachand told him that he had a role but said it would be impossible to cast him as he did not understand Tamil. Rajini immediately replied in Tamil, saying that he understood the language, and Balachand was shocked at his ability to learn the language in just two months. In 1975, he got the role in Apoorva Raagangal. From that point on, he never looked back and the rest is history.
Rajinikanth and Raj Bahadur
In 1993, Raj Bahadur played a small role in Rajinikanth’s Tamil film Valli, for which Rajini gave him Rs. 2 lakh rupees were his savings. Raj Bahadur retired from Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) in 2005 as a bus driver. Talking to reporters, Raj said that even after retirement, Rajinikanth often visited his home without informing him in advance. He said,
Ragini always comes to visit unexpectedly. He disguised himself to avoid public attention, arrived in the early hours of the morning and knocked on the door. No calls, no messages, just hopping on the next flight and landing on a friend’s doorstep. There is a room in the house reserved for Ragini. We don’t know when he’s going to knock on the door. So the room is always ready. It was a simple little room with a single bed and enough room on the floor for another person to sleep. Whenever Ragini came, we would stay in the room and talk for hours. I slept on the cot and Ragini slept on the bed on the floor. It’s been that way for years. “
Rajinikanth and Raj Bahadur
In an interview, Raj shared an experience when Rajinikanth wanted to visit the famous ‘Kadlekai Parish’, an annual groundnut fair held at Basavanagudi in Bengaluru. He said,
We changed our clothes and went to the lively streets of Niumiao Road where the market was held. Ragini enjoyed every bit of the crowded bazaar but went unnoticed for some time. A girl suspected that the man walking next to me was Rajinikanth. But somehow she came up to us and asked if he was Rajinikanth. We laughed at her and said she had mistaken him for someone else. The girl, a die-hard fan of Ragini, said she recognized him through his eyes and was sure he was Ragini. We fled the market before she could actually get to the bottom of it. “
In 2021, when Rajinikanth received the prestigious 51st Dadasaheb Phalke Award at the 67th National Film Awards in New Delhi, he dedicated the award to his best friend Raj Bahadur. He said,
I dedicate my award to my friend, bus driver and colleague in Karnataka, Raj Bahadur. He discovered my acting talent when I was working as a bus conductor and encouraged me to join the cinema. “
When Raj Bahadur was asked for his reaction to Rajinikanth’s act of generosity, Raj replied:
There was no need for him to use my name when he received this prestigious award. This shows his integrity, humility and that he has not forgotten his journey. He will never forget his friends because they are the ones who encourage him. Even if he meets his relatives, whenever he comes to Bangalore, he makes a point of meeting his friends. The love and affection not just between Rajinikanth and me but between him and all his friends has remained the same throughout the decades. “
Raj and Rajinikanth always consulted each other while taking major life decisions.
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education