At a time when diversity wasn’t as much of a talked-about issue, The Big Bang Theory went out and became a trailblazer sitcom by having Raj as a main character. He ended up being superb regardless of his ethnicity, though, as Raj’s sensitive personality brought him a number of fans who empathized with his situation.
However, the kind of mannerisms he had won’t ever go without memes being birthed to reference Raj and his antics, and he’s got a select few that sum up his character very well. Since The Big Bang Theory won’t be returning, let’s all remember Raj Koothrappali by indulging in the following memes.
Winning In Life
The actor has pulled off playing the character so well that there are fans who actually feel bad for him, thinking he really can’t talk to women. Well, you can take your pity party somewhere else because he’s, in fact, married to a former Miss India!
Within the show, Raj could never bring himself to talk to any woman regardless of her background, yet the actor can clearly hold a conversation with one of the most attractive women out there. Then again, maybe Raj did have a future with Sarah Michelle Gellar, as playfully teased in the show’s finale, so who knows?
Sad Wordplay
We saw on more than half a dozen occasions the sight of a disheveled and lonely Raj, who was despondent over being the only friend left who didn’t have a love interest. Whenever he happened upon this realization, Raj would take to stop caring about his appearance.
It might be a little mean on him, but Koothrappali was certainly very “Uncouth-rappali” during these times. Maybe if someone had made this pun to him in the show’s universe, Raj might have seen the humor in it and cleaned himself up.
That Confidence
While his attempts at being a ladies man weren't as striking as Howard's were, on the other end of his terminal fear of women was a confident animal that reared its head when intoxicated. This version of Raj would be the complete opposite of his usual demeanor, although the result would be the same as this confident version would scare women off as well.
It’s easy to see why too, considering Raj would adopt a cocky mannerism where he wouldn’t break eye contact for more than a second and become pushy to the point where you’d just want to run away. Still, we'd be lying if we said we hadn't missed seeing him like this in later seasons of the series.
That's Just About It
The best part about this meme is that it didn’t even require a punchline in the lower half of the picture since Raj’s characterization was described in the first half itself. You have to give props to Kunal Nayyar, who is among a few actors who can really nail the mannerisms of his character because playing a guy so shy of women that he couldn’t even talk to them doesn’t sound easy.
In scenes where he was around women, Raj couldn’t be silenced by fear all the time since that would’ve gotten lame, so we had some great subtle mannerisms such as Raj making humming sounds to communicate or whispering into Howard’s ear.
The Poor Guy
This meme is both funny and important to consider that Raj spent over a decade all alone, and yet no-one felt bad for him. It also speaks volumes that a character like Walter from The Big Lebowski is used to articulate this, considering how crazy that guy was.
However, Raj’s friends really were rather insensitive to him by poking fun at his lonely situation. The Big Bang Theory itself made sure to stress upon Raj being alone as a running gag, but one does feel for him for ending the series still single and with no love interest.
Not So Different After All
For all the fun at the expense of the main characters of The Big Bang Theory, they weren’t different at all compared to the Average Joe. In Raj’s case, once could even consider his position as being way better than any other person.
Raj had an awesome job where he became renowned by appearing in magazines and made a great income. For the majority of the series, he had access to his father’s riches. On top of that, Raj had a dedicated and large friend group who stood by him through all his hard times. So, yeah, we’re like him, except we’re not so smart or have his privileges.
The Love Story That Never Was
Go and check out the poster for Five Feet Apart and you’ll see what this meme is getting at. It also presents great context to the legendary friendship between Raj and Howard, which always seemed close to turning into a romantic relationship.
There did seem to be a deliberate sort of separation between them since, emotionally, they had confessed to loving each other on more than one occasion. The penultimate episode even had Howard chase Raj at the airport to stop him from leaving, and, truth be told, that was better than most romance films out there.
DCEU On A Lower Budget
After the box office failure of the first part, Justice League Part Two has been indefinitely shelved. It might even be a decade or more before we get to see another team-up of the Justice League, so all we have in its place is this meme for the time being.
One might even go so far as saying that Jason Momoa was the second person to play Aquaman in mainstream pop culture, as Raj pulled it off years before him. At the time, Aquaman was considered a lame hero, and who better to illustrate that than our own Raj Koothrappali?
Girls>Boys
You can’t blame Raj for wanting to hang out with girls over boys, seeing as the guys usually played rough and would give each other a hard time; someone sensitive as Raj was more suited to being around the girls who were largely sympathetic with him.
Sure, this meme pokes fun at Raj joining in on “Girls Night” when he’s far from being a girl himself, but there was no point when he hung out with them that it felt as if he didn’t belong there.
We Sure Are
While Raj’s loneliness lasted well into his 30s, most of us can relate to how he feels in our 20s. At this point in life, a majority of people are more concerned with stuff like salary and rent to have a significant other, leading to a rather lonely lifestyle.
Fear not, because you’ve got a kindred spirit in Raj, who sums it up well by pointing out that he eats, sleeps, and even cries alone. We’ll all laugh at this meme, not because it shows how hilariously sad Raj was, but because it’s a bit too relatable.