The Big Bang Theory: Who Did Raj Almost Marry?

Anu, played by Rati Gupta, almost married Kunal Nayyar's Raj Koothrappalli on "The Big Bang Theory." So how did they get together, and why didn't the relationship work out?

Let's rewind just a little bit. From the start of "The Big Bang Theory," Raj is terrified of speaking to or spending much time at all around women — to the point where it's revealed he has selective mutism any time he's around a woman. (This only changes if he's extremely intoxicated, which is ... a very interesting narrative choice from the show's writers.) Eventually, Raj decides to follow his parents' example and enter into an arranged marriage, which is where Anu comes in.

In Season 12, Episode 3, titled "The Procreation Calculation," Anu and Raj go on their first date and get engaged in one fell swoop, although intimacy proves difficult later on when Raj's selective mutism returns in full force. (Anu is, understandably, not impressed when he gets plastered to "solve" this issue.) The two end up planning a Valentine's Day wedding in India, but trouble arises when Raj becomes suspicious of Anu's behavior.

Later in Season 12, the couple's relationship hits a serious snag when Raj sees Anu in what he thinks is a compromising situation. In Episode 11, "The Paintball Scattering," Raj helps Anu set up a doorbell camera only to see her ex-boyfriend arrive and go inside. The two argue, with Anu angrily telling Raj that nothing happened and that her ex was just picking up a few things — and though Raj tries to win her back in the following episode, "The Propagation Proposition," they agree that getting married might not actually be the best idea.

They start dating without being engaged, but trouble strikes yet again when Anu is offered an exciting job in hotel management while traveling for work in London. Raj wants to fly out and join her, but his best friend Howard Wolowitz (Simon Helberg) convinces him not to, saying that Raj should stay home with his friends and try to find a new girlfriend whose life trajectory aligns more closely with his. Raj and Anu split for good when she moves to London.

So where does this leave Raj when "The Big Bang Theory" wraps up, considering that Season 12 was the show's final one? It leaves him alone while his other friends are coupled up. Leonard Hofstadter (Johnny Galecki) and Penny (Kaley Cuoco) are finally together after plenty of ups and downs. Howard, once a would-be womanizer, has settled down with Bernadette Rostenkowski (Melissa Rauch), with whom he has two children. Even Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons), a prickly and often difficult person, found love with Amy Farrah Fowler (Mayim Bialik).

It's a little sad that Raj, the most romantic of all of the show's characters, ends the series without a partner (when he finds out Anu is staying in London's Notting Hill neighborhood before the two split, he's overjoyed, much to her surprise, because he loves the film so much). It does make sense, though, that Raj can't settle for Anu, as an arranged marriage doesn't seem to really fit his character. He does attend the Nobel Prize award ceremony honoring Sheldon and Amy with Sarah Michelle Gellar, but she repeatedly tells him it's not a date.

In any case, maybe it's best that Raj ends the series without a partner when you consider how poorly the men of "The Big Bang Theory" treat the women in their lives. You can stream Raj's entire romantic journey on "The Big Bang Theory" now on HBO Max.