Samay Raina opens up on Latent row, hints at second season

Comedian Samay Raina addresses the fallout from the India's Got Latent controversy, including multiple FIRs and online backlash, while hinting at a second season of the show.

Popular comedian Samay Raina has teased a second season of his controversial show India's Got Latent in a new stand-up special where he spoke about the controversy that led to multiple first information reports (FIRs) against him and other panellists on the show.

In February last year, a joke cracked by Youtuber Ranveer Allahbadia led to country wide outrage and multiple FIRs against every comedian who was part of that particular episode on India's Got Latent.

In his new special, Raina evoked George Orwell and his Kashmiri Pandit heritage to talk about the aftermath of the storm that led him to delete the entire show from YouTube.

"I don't think my show would have ended on a bigger high," he said in the special, uploaded last night.

Before rephrasing it to, "I don't think the season one of my show would have ended on a bigger high than this. I will definitely bring back the show because I enjoyed doing that show. I want to do a wild show and you watch the softie version after censors."

Emotional Impact of the Controversy

In an emotional moment of what was an over one-hour-long act, the 28-year-old comedian recalled how he finally broke down when he saw the parents of his friend, and the owner of the show's venue Habitat club, Balraj Singh Ghai, caught in the crossfire.

"Ranveer is getting death threats, his family is scared and everyone is messaging me, 'Bro, what happened?' I was feeling so guilty that morning because something that I had uploaded had caused all this. Then I saw one video that Balraj's wife sent to me and that broke me completely. That was the final nail in the coffin."

"Inside Habitat, Balraj's parents, who are in their 70s, and they have made no mistake, they just run that comedy club where we used to shoot, they were falling to the feets of young cops and requesting, 'Sir, please let us go, we have done nothing.' I f***ing broke down looking at the video, and I was just crying," Raina said.

The comedian said when his mother called to check on him, he was so disturbed that he did not pick up her video call. But when he did, she was shaking with fear and worry.

He also spoke about how Apoorva Makhija, who was also at the receiving end of the backlash and named in the multiple FIRs, was only defending herself from a misogynistic comment.

"I now have three FIRs on me. I always knew that this will happen but I used to think that I will get in trouble for something that I say. In that episode, I didn't even say anything. I was just sitting in a corner. We Kashmiris always die in the crossfire."

Balancing Comedy and Consequences

The comedian said Assam police kept asking him whether he was ready to apologise or not and he kept repeating that he had said nothing and the joke that Allahbadia had cracked was also an old one.

"But they again repeated their question and I thought about it because whether to apologise or not, it's a serious question for a comedian. I remembered a line by George Orwell. He was a great writer, and he once said, 'Every joke is a tiny revolution and the revolution must never stop'.

"But the Assam police also said a line, 'We will put you in jai ******. I thought about these two lines and realised that saying sorry is better here. You cannot bring revolution in your society through a joke. If George Orwell was in Assam, he would say, 'Every revolution is a tiny joke'. You only fight when the fight is fair and you have a chance of winning. When the fight is not fair, you f*** off from there. Kashmiri Pandit wisdom," he said.

Media Scrutiny and Criticism

The comedian also roasted the media, politicians, comedian Sunil Pal, singer B Praak and "Shaktimaan" actor Mukesh Khanna in his inimitable style.

"B Praak came to criticise us. He said, 'He will never attend our podcast'. Who called you, bro? All of them were ready to eat us alive. Politicians, celebrities, Sunil Pal. He said, 'They should learn from Kapil Sharma'. And Kapil Sharma was to be the next guest on the show and he was messaging me how he loved my show. Shaktimaan was also there. What do you say to him, 'Sorry Shakitmaan'?

"He said it will leave a bad influence on kids. Really? I don't know how many of you watched TV in 'Shakitmaan' era. Every other month, there would be news that some child had jumped from a building after watching 'Shaktimaan'."

Defending Controversial Content

Raina, also addressed the elephant in the room, when he answered why he decided to retain Allahabadia's controversial line in the first place.

"But what you don't know is that he said it eight times. He said many other vulgar things that I edited out. From my POV, I had killed 99.9 per cent germs."

The comedian said he was determined to defend Allahbadia till the end but he couldn't even defend the Youtuber at his home.

"Ranveer Allahabadia broke character, which is why people couldn't digest what he said," he added.

The special, uploaded last night, has already garnered over seven million views.