A video of comedian Bunty Banerjee slandering Deepika Padukone has gone viral
With its edgy and frequently dark humour, Samay Raina’s YouTube series India’s Got Latent is renowned for pushing the envelope. The last episode, in which a competitor seemed to make fun of the struggle of actor Deepika Padukone with depression, appears to have crossed a boundary, according to the internet.
Who is comedian Bunty Banerjee who mocked actress Deepika Padukone’s depression in India’s Got Latent latest episode
Comedian Samay Raina, who also joins on the judges’ panel alongside other comics and content artists, developed the online talent contest India’s Got Latent. Tanmay Bhat, Raghu Ram, neurologist Dr. Sid Warrier, and Balraj Singh Ghai joined him on the most recent episode. In one episode snippet, a competitor named Bunty Banerjee mentions the birth of Dua, the daughter of Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh as she mocked the depression which Deepika has spoken she had about openly previously.
Bunty Banerjee who is a comedian is a Bengali woman raised in Bihar and kicked off with some self-deprecating humour about the people from both states. She then shared her experience as a mother of a two-year-old, revealing how she hadn’t had a proper night’s sleep in two years because of the constant care her child needed, claiming that Deepika would now know what depression means.
a contestant on India's got latent trolled #DeepikaPadukone for her fake sob story which she created to defame her ex. pic.twitter.com/E2v0FxM8b2
— V🐧 (@V_for___) November 17, 2024
“Deepika Padukone also became a mother recently, right. Great, now she knows what depression really looks like,” she says in the clip.
The founder of the show, Samay, and other panellists, such as Raghu Ram and Tanmay Bhat, are shown laughing. Tanmay initially puts his head in his hands before turning to face Samay and giggling. Samay chuckles and cheers the humour as well.
The contestant then adds, “I am not trying to insult breakup-wala depression,” before pausing and adding, “I am.”
Deepika Padukone has openly discussed her struggles with depression and anxiety. She established The Live Love Laugh Foundation in October 2015 with the goal of raising awareness of mental health issues in India. She started the More Than Just Sad campaign the following year to help general practitioners handle patients with anxiety or depression.
Woman on India's Got Latent making fun of Deepika’s depression 🥹#deepikapadukone pic.twitter.com/ADCleUQLLJ
— The Casanovva (@Sallu_loopz) November 17, 2024
Reactions of social media users
Social media users criticized the joke for “trivializing mental health” when it was posted on Reddit. As one user put it, “This! pick me of the highest order.”
Someone else commented, “It’s not about Deepika, but a woman’s mental health being made fun of in the national television, all for male validation by a female comedian.”
Some even justified the joke, claiming that it was no more offensive than the other edgy content on the show and that the only reason people were upset was because it featured a famous person like Deepika Padukone.