Who is Atharva Sudame, the Maharashtra content creator in the eye of a storm?

In the reel, Sudame promotes Hindi-Muslim unity by purchasing a Ganesh idol from a Muslim shopkeeper. After a section of social media users and the Akhil Bhartiya Brahman Mahasangh voiced their opposition, Sudame ended up deleting the video and apologised for hurting sentiments.

Sudame has gained fame with parodies of stereotypical characters commonly found in neighbourhoods, videos on festivals and events, and music and cricket videos. He also performs live shows with his team. In 2023, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray expressed appreciation for Sudame at an event. “You are my favourite, I watch all your videos,” Thackeray said.

Sudame’s feed reveals collaborations with stars like Asha Bhosle, Suryakumar Yadav, Harbhajan Singh, Yuvraj Singh, and Kane Williamson. He was one of the social media influencers who was called by the Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture (MCCIA) to guide entrepreneurs on how to harness the power of social media last year.

A student of Modern High School, Sudame completed his education from the Marathwada Mitra Mandal’s College of Commerce and married his long-time friend, Rucha, in 2023.

Sudame’s content depicts him as the boy-next-door, but he has garnered his share of criticism, with social media users pointing out how some reels and jokes are problematic. A video by Sudame titled ‘Gen-Z Kids Nowadays’ makes light of conditions like anxiety, depression, panic attacks, and suicide.

In another reel titled ‘Men will be Men’, Sudame lists the names of the women he had romantic relationships with in college to his friend. As his wife walks in the frame, the friend makes an excuse to get Sudame out of trouble. As soon as his wife leaves, Sudame starts talking about another woman.

Reddit user RKoi123 commented on a post on r/LGBTindia, “Danny pandit. And his friend Atharva Sudame. I find their skits homophobic and misogynistic.”

Journalist Sunandan Lele was introduced to Sudame half a decade ago. “He is my daughter’s age. I got introduced to him as a content creator. He is a very creative and hardworking person. I have high appreciation for him because it is not easy to create such content regularly.” Lele had collaborated with Sudame for cricket-related content.

Defending Sudame’s intentions over creating the recent reel, Lele said, “I don’t want to say anything specific about the reel, it is a part of an individual’s creativity. But I can say for sure that the reel was made with a good heart. He never intends to create any controversy. Some of these things have become so unnecessarily sensitive that one is baffled about where things are headed.”

Hamid Dabholkar of Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti and lawyer Asim Sarode have expressed their support for Sudame.

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