Samay Raina's YouTube show India's Got Latent is known to push the boundaries with its edgy and often dark humour. However, the internet seems that a line may have been crossed in the recent episode wherein a contestant appeared to mock actor Deepika Padukone's battle with depression.

The joke that divided the internet

India's Got Latent is an online talent show created by comic Samay Raina, who sits on the judges' panel himself with other comics and content creators. On the latest episode, he was joined by Tanmay Bhat, Raghu Ram, neurologist Dr Sid Warrier, and Balraj Singh Ghai. A clip from the episode shows a contestant named Bunty Banerjee 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.

The camera then pans to the show's creator Samay and other panelists, including Raghu Ram and Tanmay Bhat laughing and exclaiming in disbelief. At first, Tanmay buries his head in his hands before looking at Samay and laughing. Samay, too, laughs and applauds the joke. The contestant then adds, "I am not trying to insult breakup-wala depression," before pausing and adding, “I am.”

Fans' reactions

The short clip was shared on Reddit, where social media users criticised the joke for 'trivialising mental health'. One user commented, "This! pick me of the highest order." Another said, "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 people even defended the joke saying it was no different than the other edgy stuff on the show and people were only up in arms because it was about a celeb like Deepika Padukone. However, one comment retaliated saying, "People are finding it unfunny because it trivializes a common mental health condition and that too in a dumb way, comparing apples to oranges. It is punching down, unintelligently."

The judges, too, earned the fans' ire for their reaction to the joke. One comment read, "Even the judges are literally like "omg mental health pe joke maar diya denk hehe haha hassi ke favvare". As much hilarious the panel is at times, sometimes the panel has the most brain dead takes like come on comedy ke naam pe kya kar rahe ho (what are you doing in the name of comedy)."

Deepika Padukone has been verbal about her battles with anxiety and depression. In October 2015, she formed The Live Love Laugh Foundation to create awareness on mental health in India. The following year, she launched a campaign named More Than Just Sad to assist general physicians in their treatment of patients suffering from depression or anxiety.

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