Samay Raina's lawyer on why they are keeping a close watch on India's Got Latent 2

Samay Raina is back in controversy, just weeks after the Supreme Court gave him relief in the case linked to insensitive remarks about people with disabilities on India's Got Latent. This time, it is the new season that has landed in the spotlight after an exchange between Raina and comedian Sharon Verma about Bihar and Kashmir drew criticism online and from political leaders.His lawyer recently spoke exclusively to India Today and shared how the legal team is now actively reviewing content on the second season. Having come on board a few months ago for Latent 2, Lavin Hirani said the idea is not to sanitise the show or take away the creative freedom that makes it what it is.“At the same time, we have to, as lawyers, ensure that we don't completely curtail someone's creativity; then you won't have a show. For example, a show like Latent, the way it is, if I have to object to everything, then we won't have a show,” he said.The timing of that legal scrutiny is also significant. On August 14, the Supreme Court quashed criminal proceedings against Raina and four others in the earlier case, taking note of their efforts to organise awareness and fundraising initiatives for people with disabilities. Hirani said the original petition filed by the Cure SMA Foundation was never simply about reprimanding comedians. “The intent of the petition was not to get any kind of reprimand. The intent for this was to form guidelines on how people with disabilities are depicted on television, on shows and in films, because there are no, in that sense, laws around it," he added. Over the past year, Raina and the other respondents undertook activities directed by the court, including a chess tournament and fundraising initiatives. Hirani said the effort eventually went beyond simply fulfilling those undertakings. “Efforts were being made, but it was probably not the way the petitioners imagined it to be. It was more about the essence of the order being followed than doing it in the strict sense. And after we came on board, we realised the petitioners didn't want us to really go out of our way. They just wanted some kind of understanding on the issues and them being promoted," said Hirani.The focus, he said, thus moved towards awareness around accessibility, medical costs, dignity and self-respect. Hirani said, “But we also realised that this is not just about the event. This is about going beyond it and making efforts to promote awareness on SMA and how people with disabilities are in terms of accessibility, medical costs, you know, respect, dignity, self-respect, all those things were not being focused on, which we just started focusing on. And the court also acknowledged those efforts.”‘It’s all about context’With Raina now facing fresh criticism over the new episode, the larger question remains: how does comedy retain its creative freedom without crossing a line? Hirani believes there is no easy legal formula.“It’s very difficult because it's all about sensitivities. When you just call someone out for their disability, sometimes people may not always get offended in the context you say it. At the end of the day, it's all about context. And I don't believe any law in the world can really capture that," he said. He further compared it with obscenity and defamation, where courts have to interpret grey areas rather than follow a fixed list of what is acceptable.“So, as a lawyer, there's never something that we can say, by saying this, there will be no problem and by saying that, there will be a problem,” he said, adding that in a country as diverse as India, offence is almost inevitable.“India being so diverse, there have been different political ideologies, religions and languages. You will be bound to offend some people. It's just the gravity of it that really matters," Hirani added. Celebrity cases, media trials and prejudiceHaving represented several celebrities, including Shah Rukh Khan and Rana Daggubati, Hirani said high-profile cases require lawyers to look beyond the strict wording of an order because public perception becomes part of the equation.“And because it's all out there in the media, one has to go beyond the letter of the law in terms of understanding the order and reply accordingly,” he said.He added that celebrities also have to be more careful because a legal controversy can quickly become a media trial.“Especially when it comes to celebrities, there's a public perception angle as well. It's not just like you've probably seen things where something wrong is said or done; there's a media trial. So, of course, as celebrities, they have to be more careful,” he said, adding that public perception can also create prejudice.“If a celebrity with a clean image comes to us, for a particular case, we may look at it differently than someone who already has an FIR in the past or a bad reputation. But again, eventually, it's how the courts decide," said HiraniAI and the personality-rights battleThe other major legal challenge facing celebrities at present, according to Hirani, is AI and the rise of deepfakes. Many celebrities have spoken about morphed photos in the past, while several have approached courts seeking personality-rights orders covering their names, characters, voices or even catchphrases.“I think it's absolutely important. At the same time, as long as it does not fetter someone's freedom of speech and expression, people are free to say what they want, do what they want. For a lot of celebs, we really have a team just sitting and monitoring this illegal and infringing content being generated. And these are all faceless warriors. And this is why it's also so important to have personality rights, because of the way the internet and AI work today,” he concluded.- EndsPublished By: shweta keshriPublished On: Sep 1, 2026 10:44 IST