Bigg Boss OTT contestant Raqesh Bapat: All you need to know about the charming Tum Bin actor

Raqesh Bapat is the first contestant of Bigg Boss OTT.

Each year Bigg Boss arrives with a new group of celebrities who entertain audiences for a quarter of a year. Fans were worried if the popular show may not have a season this year, given the threat posed by the pandemic. To their relief, the show creators confirmed that Bigg Boss is here to stay. However, there’s a catch! You cannot watch it on TV, but on the streaming platform Voot.

Rakesh Vashisht, popularly known as Raqesh Bapat, is a Bollywood actor known primarily for Tum Bin. Raqesh, since his childhood, had a flair for sculpting and painting. In ninth grade, he won an award on a national level for painting.

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Tum Bin, directed by Anubhav Sinha launched his career on a high. Tum Bin is credited for transforming Raqesh from a model to an actor. Following the success of Tum Bin, Raqesh acted in Dil Vil Pyar Vyar, in which he played a psychosomatic brother where he shared screen space with the likes of Madhavan and Sanjay Dutt.

After the critical success of Dil Vil Pyar Vyar, Raqesh did a handful of movies that were not successful. After 2006, he took a long break from Bollywood and focused on his television career. He was already a familiar face, thanks to the movies and commercials in which he acted. He gained fame for his role in Saat Phere: Saloni Ka Safar. He played Neerav and acted in three seasons of the series. After that, he also acted in popular shows like Honge Judaa Naa Hum, Bahu Hamari Rajni Kant, Tu Aashiqui etc.

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In 2011, Raqesh married his Maryada: Lekin Kab Tak co-actor Ridhi Dogra. After being married for eight years, they divorced with mutual consent in 2019. He is also known for his involvement with the non-profit organisation, Shyamchi Aai Foundation, co-founded by his sister Sheetal. The organisation aims to promote skill development by nurturing artistic or craft skills in children. In 2017, Raqesh was ranked sixteenth in The Times of India’s Top 20 Most Desirable Men in Maharashtra.

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