A roast battle between Samay Raina and Sharon Verma took an unexpectedly personal turn in the latest episode of India’s Got Latent, as the two comedians exchanged jokes about their respective backgrounds. What began as light-hearted banter escalated when Sharon responded to Samay’s jokes about her Bihar roots, prompting strong reactions from the panel and audience.
The exchange drew attention because both comedians have incorporated their backgrounds into their public comic personas. Sharon gained widespread recognition after appearing on India’s Got Latent in 2024, while Samay has frequently spoken about his Kashmiri Pandit heritage and his family’s displacement from Kashmir.
During the episode, Samay joked about Sharon’s Bihari identity, saying, “She’s so Bihari, she thinks Ebola means someone said something.” Sharon hit back with, “Samay is so Kashmiri, he loves getting stoned.” Samay continued by saying that Sharon, a Bihari, had moved to Mumbai looking for work. Sharon responded, “At least I left my state by my choice.”
Sharon Verma first became widely known after her 2024 appearance on India’s Got Latent. Her deadpan delivery and jokes about her Bihar background, unusual name and description of herself as a “weak, independent woman” quickly caught viewers’ attention. Clips from her performance went viral across social media, turning her into a familiar internet personality.
Samay Raina on his Kashmiri roots
Samay Raina comes from a Kashmiri Pandit family with a history shaped by the community’s displacement from Kashmir. In his stand-up special Still Alive, Raina spoke about what he described as “Kashmiri Pandit wisdom”, which centres on choosing survival when a fight cannot be won. He connected this perspective to his family’s experience of leaving Kashmir and later referenced it while discussing the controversy surrounding India’s Got Latent.
In an earlier members-only episode of India’s Got Latent 2, Raina also discussed his roots and his family’s displacement while interacting with contestant Vanika Raikta. Raghav Juyal, Munawar Faruqui, Niharika NM, Rohan Joshi and Raina were part of the panel.
Vanika spoke about her family’s apple orchards in Shimla, mentioning that her brother had sold some of the land while the family continued to own several orchards. She also said both her parents worked as government school teachers.
Raghav then asked Raina whether his family had also owned an apple orchard in Kashmir. Raina replied, “We had a lot of things.” After Raghav patted him on the back, Raina turned to Munawar and jokingly asked, “Now, talk about this?” Munawar raised his hand and said, “It wasn’t me,” which led to laughter from the panel and audience. Raina then added, “This happened to us, he won’t say anything now.”
The exodus of Kashmiri Pandits during the early 1990s forced generations of families to leave the Valley and abandon their homes and livelihoods as militancy intensified. Raina’s family was among those who left Kashmir during that period.
Speaking earlier on the Dostcast podcast, Raina said the experience had deeply affected his sense of identity and belonging. He recalled that Kashmiri Pandits were forced to leave and that many people of his generation became afraid of returning to the Valley. He also remembered his mother becoming emotional when she visited Kashmir years later and saw that little remained of what the family had once known.
Raina further recalled that letters had circulated threatening people with death, including one that named his grandfather as a target. He said his mother and grandmother fainted after receiving the letter.
According to Raina, his family packed their belongings overnight, believing they would return within a couple of weeks. Instead, decades passed. He also recalled that local Kashmiri Muslims supported his grandfather, who had treated people for free when they could not afford medical care, and helped him leave the region safely.
The family later moved from Jammu to Delhi before eventually settling in Hyderabad. Raina was 12 years old at the time.
