Key facts
- Mukesh Khanna previously called for Samay Raina to be 'paraded on a donkey'
- Khanna is best known as Shaktimaan from Doordarshan's 1990s series
- Despite past public feud, both have now collaborated
Mukesh Khanna, the actor who became a household name across India as the caped superhero Shaktimaan in Doordarshan's landmark 1990s series, has now chosen to work with Samay Raina — the same comedian he once said 'should be paraded on a donkey' for content Khanna considered disrespectful to his legacy and to Indian cultural values.
The original outburst had made headlines precisely because of its colourful ferocity: Khanna is known for outspoken views on contemporary entertainment, and his condemnation of Raina had been unambiguous. Raina, for his part, has built a substantial following on YouTube and Instagram with roast-style comedy that frequently targets Bollywood celebrities and nostalgia culture.
The collaboration — the details of which were not fully specified in the report — signals either a genuine reconciliation, a calculated PR move by both parties, or simply the pragmatic logic of Indian entertainment in 2026, where reach and virality often override past friction. Raina's digital audience is enormous, and Khanna's nostalgia value among millennial viewers is considerable; the overlap is commercially obvious.
For fans of both, the pairing is equal parts surprising and entertaining. It also underscores a broader trend: India's old-media icons and new-media creators are increasingly finding common ground, recognising that cross-generational content tends to perform well across both television and streaming platforms.