Four people are profiled on this page: comedian and actor Anubhav Singh Bassi, Earthful co-founder Veda Gogineni, educator and accessibility pioneer Akella Raghavendra, and social entrepreneur Kajal Srivastava. Each of them wrote the UPSC Civil Services Examination, was never selected, and later built something documented and substantial.
This list is short on purpose. Most names circulating as “famous UPSC failures” either cleared the exam, wrote a different one, or have no primary source at all. Those are listed too, because knowing which stories are false matters as much as knowing which are true.
How this list is verified
To appear here, a person has to clear three bars. They actually wrote the Civil Services Examination at some stage. They were never selected — people who cleared and later resigned belong to a different story. And what they built afterwards is documented by a reputable source, not by a listicle quoting another listicle.
Every profile below rests on a first-person account — an interview, a bio, a stage set — corroborated by independent reporting. Sources are linked under each entry so you can check them yourself. Where a claim could not be sourced, it is not on this page, even when it would have made the page more impressive.
The four verified stories
Anubhav Singh Bassi
Stand-up comedy and acting
The attempts
A law graduate from RMLNLU Lucknow, he moved to Delhi to prepare for the Civil Services Examination around 2015. He attempted Prelims twice and never cleared it — a fact he has never hidden; his best-known stand-up special is literally about that Mukherjee Nagar life.
The turn
His first open mic in Delhi came in 2017. Two years later, one video went viral.
What they built
One of India's most-watched stand-up comedians, with an Amazon Prime special in 2023, a Bollywood debut opposite Ranbir Kapoor the same year, and sold-out tours in India and abroad.
The failure isn't buried in his biography — it is his most famous material. He is the clearest proof that the story itself can become the asset.
An IIT Kharagpur alumna, she resigned a Deutsche Bank job in Mumbai in 2015 to prepare full-time in Delhi. Four attempts across roughly three and a half years, missing cutoffs at times by a single mark. She was never selected.
The turn
She stepped back on her mother's advice, and in 2020 co-founded the plant-based nutrition brand Earthful with her sister Sudha.
What they built
A Shark Tank India deal of ₹75 lakh for 2% equity, followed by ₹5 crore in 2024 and a ₹26 crore pre-Series A round backed by Fireside Ventures and V3 Ventures.
“The exhaustive cycle of preparing, failing, and restarting drained me.”
Four attempts between 1994 and 1999. He reached the interview stage and missed the final list by roughly twelve marks — the kind of near-miss that is harder to put down than a distant one.
The turn
Journalism with Eenadu and ETV from 1998, film scriptwriting, and then teaching.
What they built
More than 500 students placed into the IAS, IPS and state services; India's first Braille and audiobook UPSC material for visually impaired aspirants — around 3,000 audio files, funded with about ₹5 lakh of his own savings — and free coaching for blind and physically challenged aspirants.
“If you take an elevator you may or may not reach your destination; but if you take the stairs, you definitely will.”
Six attempts, ending on 24 October 2020. Strong mock scores throughout; never selected. Six attempts is not the outlier version of this story — it is the median one.
The turn
Kalaripayattu, which she had discovered in 2017, became the centre of the rebuild. She launched the TAVASI movement and a natural activewear brand.
What they built
TAVASI workshops have supported more than 2,000 people living with trauma, alongside a homegrown activewear label.
“I restarted my life, and today, I am glad that I didn't clear the exam.”
The most relatable scale on this page. Not a unicorn — a rebuilt life.
Her public account includes surviving a suicide attempt during those years. She has chosen to speak about it openly. If any part of this is familiar to you right now, please talk to someone today — Tele-MANAS is free and 24×7 on 14416.
Search for people who failed UPSC and you will meet the same twenty names everywhere. Most of those lists are wrong. Here is what our research actually found, in three categories.
They cleared the exam — they didn't fail it
Arvind Kejriwal (IRS), Roman Saini (IAS, AIR 18), Vikas Divyakirti, Awdhesh Singh (IRS), Jayaprakash Narayan (IAS), K. Annamalai (IPS), R. S. Praveen Kumar (IPS) and Suhas L. Y. (IAS) are routinely listed as UPSC failures. Every one of them was selected. What they did was leave the service afterwards, which is a completely different story — and a much less useful one if you are holding a rejection.
They wrote a different exam
Khan Sir attempted the NDA and was rejected on medical grounds, not the Civil Services Examination. Jaideep Ahlawat wrote the CDS. Manoj Bajpayee's rejections were from the National School of Drama. Kailash Kher never attempted the exam at all. These names get folded into UPSC listicles because the emotional shape of the story fits, not because the facts do.
No primary source exists
Ravish Kumar, Sudhir Chaudhary, Chetan Bhagat, Anurag Thakur, R. Madhavan, Sarathbabu Elumalai, M. Laxmikanth, Saurabh Dwivedi and a dozen others appear on “famous UPSC failures” lists across the internet. We looked for a primary source for each — a first-person statement, an interview, an autobiography — and found none. Until one exists, they stay off this page. They may well be true. That is not the same as verified.
Why this list is so short
Because the internet’s supply of verified failure-to-rebuild stories is genuinely thin. Not because the people don’t exist — roughly five lakh write this exam every year and about a thousand are selected, so there are millions of them. They exist because nobody interviews them. Publications cover the ones who made the list.
That silence is the entire reason The Way Forward exists. This page will grow — not by copying other lists, but through original conversations with people whose attempts ended without their name on it. If that is your story, or you know whose it is, tell us about it.
Questions people ask
Who are the most successful people who failed UPSC?+
Among people whose UPSC attempts are documented and who were never selected: comedian and actor Anubhav Singh Bassi, Earthful co-founder Veda Gogineni, educator and accessibility pioneer Akella Raghavendra, and social entrepreneur Kajal Srivastava. Many better-known names on similar lists either cleared the exam or have no primary source confirming they wrote it.
Did Anubhav Singh Bassi fail UPSC?+
Yes. He prepared in Delhi from around 2015, attempted the Prelims twice, and never cleared it. He has spoken about it publicly himself — his best-known stand-up special is built around that period of his life.
Is it true that Ravish Kumar, Chetan Bhagat or R. Madhavan failed UPSC?+
There is no primary source for any of these claims — no first-person statement, interview or autobiography confirming they wrote the Civil Services Examination. They circulate widely on listicles that cite each other. Treat them as unverified rather than true.
Why aren't Arvind Kejriwal and Roman Saini on this list?+
Because they cleared the exam. Kejriwal joined the IRS and Roman Saini the IAS with All India Rank 18. Both later resigned. Leaving the service by choice is a different story from never being selected, and only the second one is useful if you are rebuilding after a rejection.
Does failing UPSC ruin your career?+
No. It costs you time and it costs you an identity, and both of those are real. But the discipline, synthesis and endurance the preparation built are portable, and every profile on this page is someone who spent that capital somewhere else. The years are a gap on paper and an asset in practice.
Your story isn’t over either.
A free one-on-one call — no pitch, no cost. Or one honest email a week while you find your footing.
