Samay Raina’s YouTube show India’s Got Latent has gained popularity for pushing the boundaries with its edgy and often dark humour. Meanwhile, the social media users were not happy when a contestant appeared to mock actor Deepika Padukone’s battle with depression in the recent episode.
In the latest episode, Samay Raina was joined by Tanmay Bhat, Raghu Ram, neurologist Dr Sid Warrier, and Balraj Singh Ghai. During the episode, a contestant named Bunty Banerjee cracked a joke referring to the birth of Deepika and Ranveer Singh’s daughter Dua.
“Deepika Padukone also became a mother recently, right. Great, now she knows what depression really looks like,” she says in the clip.
Following this, the camera panned to the show’s creator, Samay and other panellists, including Raghu Ram and Tanmay Bhat, laughing and exclaiming in disbelief.
While Tanmay buries his head in his hands before looking at Samay and laughing. Samay, too, laughs and applauds the joke.
The contestant added, “I am not trying to insult breakup-wala depression,” before pausing and adding, “I am.”
After this netizens were divided and spoke up.
Here are a few reactions:
One wrote, “These indian stand up comedians are never including women. Depression isn’t always about break up. This isn’t the depression Olympics. I was depressed for a long time during and after my neet preparation because I couldn’t clear it. As a single child there was immense pressure by my parents which led to stress and depression.”
Another wrote, “Making fun of someone’s clinical depression is disgusting, but it’s even worse coming from a woman, all in the name of comedy. The lengths some people go to for male validation are truly pathetic. And what does she mean by ‘now she knows what real depression looks like now that she’s a mother’? Does she think postpartum depression is a joke?!”
“Sorry, what was funny here?! Or are we hyping up this mid level comedy? What’s actually funny is Rajiv standing in the corner like her bodyguard,” commented the third.
A fourth commented, “Deepika was one of the first mainstream actress who talked loudly about depression. I remember when she spoke about it I felt seen! Many don’t understand that irrespective how good things are going, it’s hard to control how you feel.”
A fifth user wrote, “Ok making fun of someone’s mental health is not cool or fun at all.”
