Key facts
- Mukesh Khanna had said Samay Raina 'should be paraded on a donkey'
- Khanna has now worked with Raina despite the public criticism
- Raina is a prominent stand-up comedian known for roast shows
Mukesh Khanna, the actor who became a household name as the caped superhero Shaktimaan, once called for Samay Raina to be publicly humiliated — specifically, that the stand-up comedian and roast organiser 'should be paraded on a donkey'. The statement was made in the context of Raina's roast culture, which Khanna viewed as disrespectful and morally corrosive. It was the kind of condemnation that, in an earlier era, would have ended any prospect of collaboration.
That makes what happened next all the more striking. Khanna has now worked with Raina on a project, a development reported by The Indian Express that has set social media buzzing with a mixture of amusement and irony. The details of the collaboration have not been fully disclosed, but the mere fact of it is the story — a loudly declared enemy becoming a professional associate.
The episode fits a familiar pattern in Indian entertainment, where public feuds between legacy Bollywood figures and new-age digital creators often thaw quietly when audiences — and opportunity — demand it. Raina, who rose to national prominence through his roast shows and his tenure on India's Got Latent, commands a young, massive fanbase that legacy stars increasingly cannot afford to ignore.
For Khanna, long known as a keeper of traditional values in entertainment, the collaboration will inevitably invite questions about principle versus pragmatism. For Raina, it is another trophy of cultural crossover — proof that even his harshest critics eventually find their way to his door.