Last year, Samay Raina’s show India’s Got Latent found itself at the centre of a major controversy after a clip from the episode went viral, sparking widespread backlash against Ranveer Allahbadia, Apoorva Mukhija, and Ashish Chanchlani. Now, Ashish has revealed that he had, in fact, cautioned Ranveer about going overboard.
Ashish on warning Ranveer Allahbadia
Recently, Ashish joined Prakhar Gupta’s podcast, and noted that the outrage wasn’t confined to just their episode, but had been simmering for quite some time. Ashish shared that the episode was filmed in November and released in February, adding that he hadn’t anticipated the backlash would escalate to such an extent.
“All of us who were on that show, before us too, a lot of obscene things had already happened on it. The anger that was building against Latent burst on our episode, that’s what I believe. Things had been happening earlier too, and there had already been controversy… I was shooting for Ekaki. In the evening, when I finished, my brother told me that a Latent clip had exploded on X. I didn’t pay much attention at first. I thought Ranveer would be targeted, I didn’t expect this.”
Talking about Ranveer Allahbadia, Ashish shared, “Even when we were there, Ranveer was trying to be cool, saying he’d have fun. He said things jokingly. I even told him during the break, ‘Ranveer, tone it down a bit, this isn’t the time.’ But he said everyone comes there unhinged, they come in a fun mood. That day, I told my team that things had gone a bit too far because of what Ranveer said. But the format of Latent is such that unhinged conversations happen, so I didn’t think much of it.”
Ashish confessed that he even called Ranveer the next day, and told him things might get dangerous. Following this, Ranveer had assured Ashish that they went there to joke and have fun. However, he wasn’t entirely comfortable with his own presence in the episode.
Ashish admitted that he wasn’t particularly happy with the episode, as he didn’t contribute much. He shared that he had only attended because of Samay and, although he enjoyed being there, he felt he was too quiet and hadn’t given his best. He even felt at one point that it might have been better if his portion hadn’t made it to the final cut. He added that he never anticipated things would escalate the way they did, and when the controversy broke, he felt relieved that he had remained largely silent.
About India’s Got Latent row
Last year, Ashish found himself embroiled in controversy after his appearance on Samay Raina’s India’s Got Latent. During his appearance on Samay Raina’s India’s Got Latent, Ranveer Allahbadia asked a contestant, “Would you rather watch your parents have sex every day for the rest of your life or join in once to make it stop forever?”
Though everyone present on the show took the comment lightly and laughed it off, the remark did not sit well with some politicians and social media users. It received backlash, followed by multiple FIRs against Ranveer, Samay, Ashish Chanchlani, who was also one of the panelists, and Apoorva Mukhija. In February, Ashish appeared before the Assam Police and recorded his statement. In March, he along with Ranveer and Apoorva Mukhija also appeared before the National Commission for Women in connection with the controversy.
In March, Ashish shared a video message on Instagram, urging his fans to keep him and his family in their prayers. The YouTuber got emotional while speaking and said, “Hello doston, kaise ho aap log, I know, aapke messages padhe maine, chal raha hai. Maine socha story pe aapse baat karlun lekin ab samajh nahi aa raha kya kahun. Lad lenge situation se, dekhe hain aise tough times, isse bhi kuch naya seekh lenge” (Hello friends, how are you all? I know, I have read your messages—things are going on. I thought of talking to you through a story, but now I don’t know what to say. We will fight through this situation; we have seen tough times like this before, and we will learn something new from this as well).
On the work front, content creator and actor Ashish has stepped into the sci-fi space with his YouTube series Ekaki, which he has written, directed, produced and acted in.
