The world is a stage, and comic Samay Raina is a agency believer in it. So, the 28-year-old turned a Mumbai felicitation ceremony into his personal little stand-up set on Wednesday. Within the viewers was Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who was left in splits as Raina joked about his previous run-ins with the state’s cyber cell over controversial feedback made on his present India’s Bought Latent.
“Thanks a lot for the felicitation, sir. Maharashtra Cyber aur mera kissa bahot time se chalta aya hai [I have had a long-running history],” Raina mentioned, earlier than touchdown his first joke.
“1930 is a good quantity as a result of kayi baar mujhe vahin se name aa jata hai [1930 is a great number because I often get calls from that number],” he added, referring to the nationwide cybercrime helpline quantity. “Bahot zyada energetic hai Maharashtra Cyber [The Mahrashtra Cyber Cell is very active]. I can let you know this for certain. Chahein aap US mein ho, chahein aap India mein ho [Whether you are in the US or in India], they may catch you,” he went on as others sitting alongside – Pankaj Tripathi, Sharad Kelkar and Ashish Vidhyarthi had been left in splits.
If the viewers wanted any reminder of simply how bizarrely full-circle the second was, Raina supplied one himself.
“It is sensible. Ye pehli baar hua hai ki ek Cyber Cell ka officer ek comic ke ghar gaya subah, use ghar se uthaya aur is baar felicitation hua hai [This is the first time a Cyber Cell officer has gone to a comedian’s house in the morning, picked him up from his home, and this time, there’s a felicitation instead] So thanks a lot for that,” he mentioned.
And since Raina was clearly not going to let the surreal second go to waste, he adopted up the Cyber Cell jokes with an much more surprising request. Turning to Fadnavis, the comic jokingly requested for “a biscuit,” including one other layer of irreverence to an already uncommon reunion. The request drew laughter from the room, with Raina seemingly treating the formal felicitation ceremony like his personal comedy gig.
The jokes had an apparent backstory. In February 2025, Raina discovered himself on the opposite facet of Maharashtra Cyber’s consideration after an episode of his YouTube comedy present India’s Bought Latent triggered a nationwide controversy. The episode featured podcaster Ranveer Allahbadia, whose now-infamous query about dad and mom and intercourse sparked outrage and led to a number of complaints and FIRs in opposition to him, Raina and others related to the present.
Maharashtra Cyber subsequently summoned Raina for questioning. On the time, the comic was within the US and had sought permission to report his assertion through video convention. The company, nonetheless, insisted that he seem in individual. Raina finally appeared earlier than the cyber cell in Mumbai for questioning.
The controversy additionally introduced India’s Bought Latent to an abrupt halt. Raina eliminated all episodes of the present from YouTube, whereas the comic largely stayed away from the general public highlight amid the authorized proceedings.
Minimize to August 2026, and Raina was standing on a stage with the Maharashtra Chief Minister – not being questioned by Maharashtra Cyber, however being felicitated for serving to the identical division unfold consciousness about cybercrime.
And naturally, he had jokes.
Raina was amongst a number of movie and leisure personalities felicitated for his or her contribution to a cyber-awareness quick movie and anthem. The occasion was attended by Fadnavis together with actors Ashish Vidyarthi, Pankaj Tripathi, Sharad Kelkar, Sonali Bendre and Javed Jaffrey, in addition to singers Sunidhi Chauhan and Mangesh Desai.
Fadnavis, talking on the occasion, burdened the significance of bringing cybercrime consciousness to residents and mentioned artists, actors and singers might assist talk such messages successfully.
For Raina, although, the occasion supplied a possibility to show a chapter of his personal life into materials.
He later shared a video of the felicitation on Instagram, the place followers had been fast to level out the irony. A number of known as it a “comeback,” whereas others described the second as proof that “time adjustments.”
And Raina visibly understood that higher than anybody else: the person as soon as summoned by Maharashtra Cyber had now been invited to simply accept an honour from them, and was handed a microphone to make jokes about it.
What was the India’s Bought Latent controversy?
Raina’s India’s Bought Latent turned the centre of a significant controversy in February 2025 after an episode that includes Ranveer Allahbadia went viral. Allahbadia’s sexually specific comment to a contestant sparked widespread outrage, with a number of complaints and FIRs filed in opposition to him, Raina and others related to the present.
The fallout led Raina to take away all episodes of India’s Bought Latent from YouTube. He was subsequently summoned by Maharashtra Cyber for questioning and finally appeared earlier than the company in Mumbai.
The controversy turned one of many greatest turning factors in Raina’s profession. Greater than a yr later, nonetheless, he has returned to India’s Bought Latent, with Season 2 episodes now being launched on YouTube in addition to Netflix.
Which makes his newest Maharashtra Cyber look all of the extra surreal: as soon as the topic of its investigation, Raina is now serving to the company inform folks methods to keep protected on-line, whereas getting the Chief Minister to giggle about the entire thing.
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