Khesari Lal Yadav

Singer

Shatrughan Kumar Yadav (born 15 March 1986), known professionally as Khesari Lal Yadav, is an Indian actor, singer, dancer and model associated with Bhojpuri cinema. Also known by the Initialism KLY, Khesari has appeared in more than 70 films including one Bollywood film, and performed as vocalist in more than 5000 songs. Apart from Bhojpuri, he has also worked in Hindi 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 poor family. 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 they gave birth to Khesari. His father, Mangaru Lal Yadav, used to sell Chana, as a street vendor in the morning and did the duty of security guard in the night. Khesari is one of the seven siblings, 3 of them are his own brothers and 4 are his uncle's son; whose mother died very early and khesari's mother raised them up.

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. Between 2012 and 2016 he did 42 Bhojpuri movies including Nagin (2012), Ae Balma Biharwala (2013), Chhapra Express (2013), Pratigya 2 (2014) and Khiladi (2016), which won four awards at Sabrang Film Awards 2017.

Yadav runs an NGO called "Khesari Foundation" which does charitable works across the country. He is the guardian of 62 orphan children and pays for their education. He visits an old age home every month and helps the flood victims of Bihar every year. Before Diwali in 2022, he distributed money to the needy.