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27 Aug 2026, 6:35 am

Samay Raina was recently felicitated by Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for his contribution to a short film about cyber awareness. A video from the ceremony, where one of Samay’s jokes leaves the room in splits, is now going viral.

The event was held to officially launch the short film and the 1930 Maharashtra Cyber Anthem. On the occasion, Samay first praised 1930, Maharashtra Cyber’s helpline number, before making a tongue-in-cheek joke about his own association with the department, adding, “Thank you for the felicitation, sir. My association with Maha Cyber has been going on for a very long time.” The remark sent everyone into peels of laughter, including CM Fadnavis.

Taking further digs at his own self and his association with cyber cell, Samay added, "1930 is really a great number. I have actually saved it because I often get calls from there. The Maha Cyber Cell is very active. I can tell you this for sure — whether you are in the US or India, they will catch you. They are brilliant. This is for the first time when a cyber cell officer went to a comedian’s house, picked him up, and felicitated him.”

Samay was referring to the 2025 controversy when one of the episodes of his popular show India’s Got Latent sparked controversy, with a remark by Ranveer Allahbadia, popularly known as BeerBiceps, drawing flak on social media. Soon after, multiple FIRs were filed against Samay, Ranveer and Apoorva Makhija among others. The legal action was followed by issue of an official apology from Samay, and removal of all episodes of his show from YouTube. 

Besides Samay, other notable personalities who attend the ceremony included Ashish Vidyarthi, Pankaj Tripathi, Sharad Kelkar, Sonali Bendre, Javed Jaffery, Mangesh Desai, and Sunidhi Chauhan.