Creation and Casting
Raj did not appear in the original, unaired pilot of the series, where only Sheldon, Leonard, and a different version of the Penny character, called Katie, were present. The test audiences reacted negatively to Katie, but liked Sheldon and Leonard. In the new pilot, Raj and Howard were added. Series co-creator Bill Prady stated: "The idea was, if they like these first two guys, let’s give them two more". Rajesh's social anxiety around women was inspired by a former co-worker of Prady. Originally the character was called "Dave", and was an American born to Indian parents. This was changed when Nayyar won the role, because he was "so Indian".
Read more about this topic: Rajesh Koothrappali
Famous quotes containing the words creation and/or casting:
“Theres something wonderfully exciting about the quiet sing song of an aeroplane overhead with all the guns in creation lighting out at it, and searchlights feeling their way across the sky like antennae, and the earth shaking snort of the bombs and the whimper of shrapnel pieces when they come down to patter on the roof.”
—John Dos Passos (18961970)
“All we know
Is that we are a little early, that
Today has that special, lapidary
Todayness that the sunlight reproduces
Faithfully in casting twig-shadows on blithe
Sidewalks. No previous day would have been like this.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)