Who is Samay Raina? And what is ‘India’s Got Latent’, the show in the Ranveer Allahbadia row, all about? (original) (raw)

Ranveer Allahbadia India’s Got Latent Controversy: Samay Raina, a standup comedian, YouTuber and chess enthusiast, has come under scrutiny after the Mumbai police on Tuesday contacted him and podcaster Ranveer Allahbadia for an inquiry over the latter’s controversial question on ‘India’s Got Latent’, a show hosted by Raina on YouTube.

Notably, Raina is currently touring Canada and the United States with his standup show ‘Samay Raina Unfiltered’. He performed in Seattle on February 9 and has shows lined up till March 16.

From engineering to comedy to chess

Born into a conservative Kashmiri Pandit family in Jammu, Raina enrolled in a print engineering course in Pune but found it unfulfilling and started performing at open mic events. He first shot to fame in 2019 when he won the second season of ‘Comicstaan’ alongside Aakash Gupta.

During COVID-19, he expanded his online presence by streaming chess games and collaborating with renowned players like Viswanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen. He also organised online chess tournaments and used the game to raise substantial funds for various causes, including relief efforts for West Bengal and Assam flood victims.

An ‘unnecessary reality show’

It was on June 14, 2024, that the first episode of ‘India’s Got Latent’ — self-admittedly ‘an unnecessary reality show’ — premiered on YouTube.

“It’s a pointless reality but it has a very interesting point system,” reads one of the opening lines as it goes on to describe the format — contestants from across the country have 90 seconds to showcase their talent, be it singing, dancing, magic, or comedy, before a panel of judges. Before performing, each contestant rates themselves, and if the judges’ average rating matches their self-assessment, they win and receive the full proceeds from that day’s ticket sales.

The panel mostly includes comedians and YouTubers alongside celebrity figures like rapper Raftaar, reality queen Rakhi Sawant, and internet personality Uorfi Javed—individuals known for their ability to take jokes in stride and not hesitate before cracking one on others. The show thrives on dark humour, with no topic off-limits — as seen in Raina’s controversial roast of Kusha Kapila in the past, for which he was widely criticised, and in his comedy, including a segment about his nana’s (grandfather’s) demise. Slowly, Raina and his show have amassed a huge fan following, especially among Gen Z audiences, with each episode garnering anywhere between 20-40 million views.

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It was the episode featuring Ranveer Allahbadia — a content creator turned podcaster who has interviewed not only celebrities but also cabinet ministers like Nitin Gadkari and S Jaishankar — that led to a massive controversy. In the episode, Allahbadia asked a contestant a question that sparked a row: “Would you rather watch your parents have sex every day for the rest of your life or join in once to stop it forever?”

The clip featuring this segment quickly went viral, sparking outrage online and offline from politicians, activist groups, and journalists. The spotlight also turned to Raina and his show, with the national and Maharashtra women’s commissions alleging that obscene comments were made against parents, women, and their bodies.

Even though YouTube has removed the controversial episode, the Guwahati police have registered an FIR against YouTubers and content creators Ashish Chanchlani, Jaspreet Singh, Apoorva Makhija, Ranveer Allahbadia, and Samay Raina, who were on the panel of the said episode, and the Mumbai police have launched a probe.