A theatre, television and film actor, music composer, singer and, set designer; Raghuvir Yadav is best remembered for his performances in Academy Award nominated films such as Salaam Bombay! (1988), Lagaan (2001), and Water (2006).

Brought up in Jabalpur, Yadav was greatly interested in theatre and at the tender age of fifteen, he left his home to join Parsi Theatre Company. Later, he joined the National School of Drama (NSD) and graduated from there in 1977.  In his third year at NSD, ten students were selected to attend FTTI for a course on film acting and Yadav was one of the chosen students. His experience with dramatics and theatre extended beyond his exposure to travelling theatre groups.

 In the last four decades, Yadav has worked in over 70 plays with popular theatre groups like Parsi Theatre Company (1967–1973), Rangoli Puppet Theatre, Lucknow (1973–1974) and at the National School of Drama Repertory (1977–1986). He played the lead role in the film Dear Friend Hitler (2011), based on Mahatma Gandhi's letters to Adolf Hitler before World War II and at the Christmas Eve of 1940. His performance was greatly appreciated by critics and audiences alike.

Yadav made his film debut in the critically acclaimed, Massey Sahib (1985) for which he won international recognition at the International Federation of Film Critics’ Critic's Award (FIPRESCI), at the Venice Film Festival in 1986, as well as IIFI’s Best Actor Silver Peacock in 1987.

Yadav started his work in the television series Mungerilal Ke Haseen Sapne (1990), playing the lead character 'Mungerilal'.  Later he played the roles of Haji Nasiruddin in television the series Mulla Nasiruddin as well as the lead of the comic book character, Chacha Chaudhary.

Besides theatre and television, Yadav also worked in a number of successful and critically acclaimed films such as Salaam Bombay! (1988), Rudaali (1993), Bandit Queen (1994), Khamoshi (1996), Dil Se (1998), Lagaan (2001), Water (2006), Peepli Live (2010), amongst others.

Yadav has also been the voice-over artist and has sung for advertisements like Pepsi, Parle, Kotak Mahindra, and Coke, amongst many others.

In recent times, he has worked with top films like Piku (2015), Ek Bura Aadmi (2015), and Pocket Gangsters (2015). His all-round contribution to Indian cinema makes him a reputed figure within the industry.