‘I told Ranveer Allahbadia to tone it down’: Ashish Chanchlani reveals sensing the India’s Got Latent backlash before the scandal

“All of us who were on that show, before us too, a lot of obscene things had already happened on it. The anger that was building against Latent burst on our episode, that’s what I believe. Things had been happening earlier too, and there had already been controversy.”

‘Ranveer was just joking, I told him to tone it down’

Ashish recalled that the episode was shot in November and released in February, and he didn’t initially anticipate the scale of backlash.

“I was shooting for Ekaki. In the evening, when I finished, my brother told me that a Latent clip had exploded on X. I didn’t pay much attention at first. I thought Ranveer would be targeted, I didn’t expect this.”

Referring to Ranveer Allahbadia, he added, “Even when we were there, Ranveer was trying to be cool, saying he’d have fun. He said things jokingly. I even told him during the break, ‘Ranveer, tone it down a bit, this isn’t the time.’ But he said everyone comes there unhinged, they come in a fun mood.”

As the controversy escalated into legal action, Ashish was the first to respond to the police. “When the case happened, no one was here. Samay was in the US, Ranveer went underground, Apoorva also disappeared. In Bandra, the police only knew me because they knew my father. They called us to the police station.”

He said authorities were trying to reach others, but calls went unanswered.

“Things heated up when Devendra Fadnavis spoke about it on the news and said it was wrong. When the CM speaks, the police become very active. They were angry that no one was answering calls, so I had to go first. My dad told me I should go. Mumbai Police was very good and nice.”

Ashish added that explaining YouTube culture itself became a task.

“We had to explain what YouTube is, what comments are. It took two hours just to explain ‘members only.’ Then they asked everything, how do you know Samay, when did you meet him, when did you meet Apoorva, when did you meet Ranveer.”

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‘It became a joke after a point’

The situation escalated further when a case was also filed in Assam. “At one point, it became a joke. We had gone to Assam; even the Assam CM filed a case. He posted on X with my name, and after that it spiralled from everywhere. Effigies of mine were burned. I was like, what did I even do? I was just sitting on the side.”

“In Assam, the police were saying, ‘Sir, we go into jungles to catch criminals, and here we are dealing with this.’ Two to three months went into all this. Samay, Ranveer, Apoorva—everyone was affected. The case is still ongoing.”

‘I’m glad I stayed silent in that episode’

Ashish admitted he sensed something was off during the shoot itself. “That day, I told my team that things had gone a bit too far because of what Ranveer said. But the format of Latent is such that unhinged conversations happen, so I didn’t think much of it.”

He even called Ranveer the next day. “I told him things might get dangerous. He said we just went there to joke and have fun. After a day or two, I forgot about it.”

However, he wasn’t entirely comfortable with his own presence in the episode.

“I wasn’t happy with the episode. I didn’t say much there. I went only because of Samay. I enjoyed sitting there, but I wasn’t happy that I was so silent and didn’t give my best. I even thought it would be better if my part didn’t come out. I never thought this would happen. When the case happened, I thanked God that I was silent.”

While Ashish says he wasn’t deeply affected personally, his family bore the brunt. “My parents were very affected. People were abusing my mother in DMs. For the past few years, she used to get such nice messages from kids because of my content. Suddenly, everything changed.”