Khesari Lal Yadav

Shatrughan Kumar Yadav (born 15 March 1986), known professionally as Khesari Lal Yadav, is an Indian actor, singer, dancer and model who primarily works in Bhojpuri cinema.

Also known by the Initialism KLY, Yadav has appeared in more than 70 films, and performed as vocalist in more than 5000 songs.

Apart from Bhojpuri, he has also worked in Hindi, Awadhi and Haryanvi languages.

Khesari Lal Yadav was born as Shatrughan Kumar Yadav on 15 March 1986 in Dhanadih village of Saran district of Bihar in a low-income family.

He got the stage name "Khesari", due to his habit to speak too much as a child, which was analogous to Khesari, a crop, which doesn't need any water or Fertilizer, and grows properly anywhere.

He was not born in his own house, as his parents' mud house had collapsed in the rain, and they had to rent a PuCCa house, where Khesari was born.

His father, Mangaru Lal Yadav, worked as a street vendor selling Chana in the mornings and as a security guard at night to make ends meet.

Khesari is one of seven siblings, three of whom are his own brothers.

The other four are his uncle's sons, whose mother died at an early age.

Khesari's mother stepped in to raise them.

His father used to earn in Delhi and he used to live with his mother and uncle in Chhapra.

Later his mother also left for Delhi to help her husband with household works and Khesari started living with his siblings and uncle.

Khesari used to graze Cattles and sell their milks in his childhood.

During 1998-99 Yadav started his career as a theatre artist in Bhojpuri theatres, where he used to sing in Ramayana and Mahabharata, he also learnt the Bhojpuri folk dance Launda Naach.

Later he also moved to Okhla, Delhi, where he started selling Litti Chokha with his parents and wife.

With the money saved after selling Litti-chokha, He launched his first album by spending ₹12,000 but it was a big flop.

After that he started working as a servant in Guddu Rangeela's house, who was a famous Bhojpuri singer in those days, after savings some money, he again spent ₹25,000 to launch his second album which got better response from audience and he got some fame.

After that he started getting investments in projects from various music companies, but he had to do the marketing by his own.

He told in many of his interviews that he himself used to promote his album cassettes in many districts of Bihar and UP, he used to go by train and wherever singing and dancing programs were held during the day or at night.

He used to give some money to the sound operator there and ask him to play his song.

He told that some people would agree but some people used to abuse and ask them to leave.

He also told that sometimes he did not even have money to eat, so he used to sleep without eating.

After getting success as a singer, he moved to Mumbai to work in films.

Yadav have disclosed that, the manager of Manoj Tiwari had kept him at Tiwari's house secretly.

He learnt fight in this period and then Aalok Kumar starred him in Sajan Chale Sasural, which became a hit and established him as an actor.

Born in Chhapra, Bihar, Yadav began his singing career in late 2000s and has had a steady acting career since appearing in Saajan Chale Sasural in 2011.

He is married to Chanda Devi, whom he married in 2006.

Yadav is said to be extremely devoted to his wife, calling her his lucky charm.

They have a son and a daughter.

In 2012, he made his acting debut in Bhojpuri film Sajan Chale Sasural, in which he played the lead role as Sajan, a village boy who goes to town to marry the girl with which his marriage had fixed in his childhood.

His second film was Jaan Tere Naam, in which he played the character of a boy who wants to be an actor.

Akshaya Kumar, in one of his articles, writes that "the film sets in motion a dialogue about cultural practices that defy the feudal family and awaken its ‘deviant’ anxieties".

He made his Bollywood debut as a singer in 2014 with "AK-47" in the film Koyelaanchal.

He won Best Popular Actor at the 2016 Bhojpuri Film Awards, followed by Best Actor (Male) and Best Playback Singer (Male) at the Sabrang Film Awards in 2018 for his appearance in Mehandi Laga Ke Rakhna.

In 2019, he won four more awards for his role in the film Sangharsh.

In 2019, he participated in the reality show Bigg Boss 13.

In 2020, his third Hindi film song and first Hindi-language single "Ladki Patana," was released by Sony Music India which was followed by "Tere Mere Darmiyaan" in 2021.

Soon after, He collaborated with Badshah to recreate the "Pani Pani" song in Bhojpuri language.

In 2022, he made his debut as a screenwriter with his film Aashiqui.

YouTube featured his two songs on its list of the top Indian songs of 2022.