When Rajiv was asked about how important it is for an actor or comedian to be able to take a joke on himself, he recalled an instance about how this very thought process ended up hampering his career. He spoke about his time on the show Comedy Circus, where he was paired with child artist Saloni Daini. Since Saloni was a kid at the time, Rajiv didn’t find it appropriate to make fun of her and instead asked Saloni to only take jibes at him. While the audience laughed at Saloni’s jokes, they started perceiving Rajiv in a certain light, which, he said, affected his career.
He said, “This thought process has hampered my career in a way you can’t even imagine. In Comedy Circus, comedians had partners and they would crack jokes on each other. I was cast opposite Saloni and I couldn’t do that. I allowed her to make fun of me but I couldn’t do that to her. In fact, I gave her dialogues to mock me on the show.”
He went on to say, “One of the dialogues was: ‘I am making a living on a kid’s salary.’ But people started using that dialogue elsewhere and I thought it is okay because as a performer I should be able to take a joke on myself. But slowly people started believing this line and they would tell me that, ‘I bore them.’ But that was wrong. Can a boring person do 14 seasons of a comedy show for 8 years?”
