Raju Srivastav deserved to win The Great Indian Laughter Challenge, as per Shekhar Suman.Shekhar Suman has made a career out of satire, but there was a phase in the 2000s when he served as a judge on a few comedy shows. The most notable of them was The Great Indian Laughter Challenge, where he judged five seasons, mostly alongside cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu, from 2005 till 2017 on Star Network. In a new interview, Shekhar revealed he placed his bet on Raju Srivastav in the inaugural season, although the late stand-up comedian ended up as the second runner-up.Shekhar Suman feels Raju Srivastav deserved to win“When the show was announced, Raju had called me up. He came over and said, ‘Bhaiya, should I do it or not? Because the other artists are not known, but I have some reputation by now. If I don’t end up winning, it’d be quite embarrassing,'” Shekhar recounted in a new interview. Before participating in The Great Indian Laughter Challenge, Srivastav had done a few blink-and-miss roles in tentpole Bollywood films like Tezaab (1988), Maine Pyaar Kiya (1989), Baazigar (1993), and Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon (2003) among others.On television, Srivastav had a memorable cameo in Aanand Mahendroo’s 1994 sitcom Dekh Bhai Dekh, where Shekhar played one of the key roles. His claim to fame came as Dhurandhar Singh in Mukesh Khanna’s seminal superhero show Shaktimaan, which premiered in 1998 and concluded in 2005. Shekhar recalled convincing Srivastav to partake in The Great Indian Laughter Challenge right after. “I said, ‘No, you’re very good. If you work hard, you can win the show. Why have you assumed you wouldn’t win?’,” Shekhar told The Lallantop.While Sidhu placed his bet on the “wonderful” Bhagwant Mann to win the show, Shekhar had his hopes and sight set on Srivastav. As it turned out, neither of them emerged the winner. While Mann, who got eliminated before Srivastav, is now the Chief Minister of Punjab under an Aam Aadmi Party ticket, Srivastav went on to participate in reality shows like Bigg Boss 3 (2009) and Nach Baliye 6 (2013-14), and appear on Comedy Nights with Kapil (2013-16) and The Kapil Sharma Show (2016-17). He died of a heart attack in 2022.“His observational humour was the best out of the lot that’s come in so far. All of his work wasn’t great, but whatever he did, he did very well,” said Shekhar. “Raju deserved to be the winner, but sometime the circumstances are such that at time, another player happened to score a century. So, it was in the moment that Sunil Pal’s style and Naveen Prabhakar’s ‘Pehchan kaun?’ became very popular, so they turned out to be first and second. It was a very close contest. I thought when Raju came third, he’d be deeply hurt and upset, which he was. Not casting any aspersions on the winners, all of them were great. But I think Raju Srivastav was a very, very special talent,” added the actor.Shekhar Suman on distancing himself from comedyShekhar revealed that he hasn’t followed The Great Indian Laughter Challenge winner Sunil Pal’s career so far. “I don’t follow comedy at all. It’s not my scene. My interests lie somewhere else, like in literature and in-depth conversations. They’re all good, but my inclination is more towards humour in the form of satire. I feel comedy is very surface-level, and often pedestrian and ridden with abuses. But those who are popular are that for a reason. I don’t think we should pass moral judgement,” he argued.He described working alongside Sidhu “quite an experience”. “He enjoys his work, and is LOL (laugh out loud) at every point. There was camaraderie, and it was a nice show. In fact, when the makers approached me and asked me to recommend my fellow judge, I’d suggested his name. He’s a very, very sincere man. Even as a cricketer, he was very passionate. He laughs out with all his heart. Not too many people laugh like that. It’s not like he’s doing it for effect. He’s like that. That’s why people like him,” pointed out Shekhar.Story continues below this adAlso Read — ‘I want all of them gone’: Tanushree speaks out amid row over remarks on Nana Patekar’s deathWhile Shekhar has stepped away from comedy to return to satire with his YouTube talk show Shekhar Tonite, Sidhu continues to appear on The Great Indian Kapil Show on Netflix India. So does Archana Puran Singh, with whom Shekhar co-judged Comedy Circus (2007-2018) and India’s Laughter Champion (2022). Earlier this year, Shekhar claimed on SCREEN Spotlight that he doesn’t miss being part of that comedy scene at all. “I think it was just a phase. As an actor, I’m more inclined towards serious roles. That was just a small part of my journey. I did that, enjoyed that, and got out of it quickly. But it’s not something that I, given the choice, would like to do,” he said.