Kunal Nayyar is well known for his portrayal of a socially awkward but endearing astrophysicist, Rajesh Koothrappali, on the hit sitcom The Big Bang Theory. A character who couldn’t talk to women unless drunk brought a sense of humor to the show and catapulted Nayyar to global fame.
However, the viewers had mixed reactions about Nayyar’s performance during the initial seasons. But not just the audience, even the actor himself had an idea as why his earlier performance on the show was awful.
Kunal Nayyar Contemplated on Why His Character Was So Awful in the Earlier Seasons of TBBT
The British Indian actor Kunal Nayyar initially started working in the business through ads and plays. But while these were minor stints, he first came into the limelight in Rajiv Joseph’s play Huck & Holden. In this, he portrayed the character of an exchange student eager to immerse himself in American culture before he heads back home.
But his big break was just waiting down the corner in 2007 when his agent asked him to audition for The Big Bang Theory. After which the actor got through the auditions and landed the role of Rajesh Koothrappali. A role that he continued to play for 12 seasons and 279 episodes until it concluded in 2019.
But while his character garnered love and attention from the audience, the initial seasons portrayed him in a completely different light. Something that the actor himself acknowledged.
In a 2022 interview (via Express), he expressed that he was trying way too hard in the earlier seasons with his jokes and comic timing. He added:
I go back and really see how in the beginning I was trying so hard, I can look at my performances and say I really wanted every joke to work.
Kunal Nayyar also added that towards the third season something clicked within him, and he just let go of the pressure. He further allowed himself the time to relax and trust the process as well as the script. Slowly Nayyar began to get a hang of his character and, instead of focusing on jokes, started delivering a more nuanced performance.
This confidence transpired on the screen as well with better and more well-rounded dialogue delivery and humorous jargon.
Raj’s Sad Ending in The Big Bang Theory
The Big Bang Theory ended with Leonard and Penny pregnant with their first child, Sheldon and Amy winning their Nobel Prizes, and Howard and Bernadette still going strong as a family of four. But Raj was sadly left without any romantic endgame. This became a point of contention on the internet, with people bashing the sitcom for Koothrappali’s poor treatment on the show.
However, for Kunal Nayyar, it was the perfect ending that his character could get. In The Big Bang Theory: The Definitive Insider Story of the Epic Hit Series (via Screen Rant), Nayyar added:
I thought it was very astute that the one person who wanted love so badly realizes maybe he needs to love himself first. It doesn’t have to come through someone else, and that’s a very lovely way to end a character’s storyline. He grew so much in those last few seasons as a character, and you saw him become less and less dependent on all the things he thought he needed, which is very beautiful.
But the show did make an effort to give Raj his happy ending to enrich his story arc on the show. They brought in Anu as his arranged marriage partner. However, Anu’s plot line had to be written off due to the lack of chemistry between her and Koothrappali. But all in all, as Nayyar said, his character needed to love himself first. So maybe that’s the happy ending that Raj needed at that moment.
You can stream all the seasons of The Big Bang Theory on Max.
