Latent 2: Samay Raina trolls Varun Dhawan's viral smile, Medha Shankar joins. Watch

Comedy shows are probably the one place where you can insult an actor’s acting skills to his face and still have everyone laughing about it. Actor Varun Dhawan is about to find that out the fun way.

Samay Raina’s India’s Got Latent Season 2 returns with a new episode on September 4, and this time, Varun is in the hot seat as a guest panellist. The promo promises exactly the kind of unfiltered chaos one would expect from the show, with actor Medha Shankar and comedian Nishant Tanwar also joining the madness.

At one point, a contestant suggests that they and Varun could act together, only for Nishant to land a rather savage punchline about Varun’s acting. The actor, apparently assuming Samay was behind the dig, turns to him and suggests they do the performance together. Samay’s reaction? A very quick "not my joke," and an even quicker attempt to distance himself from the roast.

Dhawan, however, isn’t just taking the jokes lying down. When Raina invites him to join the acting exercise, he fires back, “Nahi show tumhaara hai. Paise hame mil rahe nahi hain. Paise tumhe banana hai” – a cheeky reminder that this is Raina’s show, after all.

But the real fun begins when Raina asks everyone to “become an animal” and pulls a goofy, exaggerated smile that appears to be a cheeky dig at Dhawan. Dhawan instantly gets the joke, and copies the exact same expression right back at him. The two then trade smiles, leaving the panel and audience in splits.

Meanwhile, there have been speculations about Raina dating actor Medha Shankr. While noticing Medha Shankr's presence on the panel, an Instagram user wrote, "Wait a minute! I see Medha in the panel." Another user wrote, "Sharon and Medha together," adding laughing emojis.

Speaking on his appearance, Varun Dhawan mentioned that he enjoys the genre and wanted to experience the show's unpredictable format live on stage.

In a press release earlier, Dhawan talked about his experience on the show and said, “Comedy is a genre I love performing and enjoy watching as well. Samay’s brand of comedy is so unpredictable that I wanted to experience it live. I had a great time and hopefully everyone on Netflix enjoys this special as much as I did.”

Known for its unscripted format and dark, observational humour, the Netflix show features unfiltered talent performances, stage banter, and panel comedy.

The first episode of India's Got Latent Season 2 premiered on June 20 at 7 pm on Netflix and YouTube. While promoting their spy thriller Alpha, actors Alia Bhatt and Sharvari joined Samay Raina, Balraj Singh Ghai and Aashish Solanki as panellists on the show.

Known for its roasting format, the latest episode of India's Got Latent Season 2 sparked controversy over a banter exchange involving Kashmir and Bihar. Samay Raina had joked about Sharon Verma moving from Bihar to Mumbai for work. Verma replied that she left her home state "by choice". Her remarks were perceived as a reference to the forced displacement of Kashmiri Pandits in the 1990s, since Raina is a Kashmiri Pandit.

The controversy surrounding India's Got Latent erupted after Allahbadia made an offensive comment during a show segment, asking a contestant about a crude hypothetical scenario involving their parents.

The viral clip triggered intense online backlash, resulting in a legal row against Allahbadia and the producers, as well as an intervention by the National Commission for Women. Allahbadia subsequently submitted a written apology, and whilst the Supreme Court granted him interim protection from arrest, it strongly admonished the remarks.

On his standup show released earlier this year, called Still alive, Raina addressed the Latent-Allahabadia controversy and said that Allahbadia had repeated the controversial question eight times during taping; Raina stated he excised seven of those instances during editing and retained only one.

The episode of India’s Got Latent Season 2, featuring Raina and Dhawan will stream on Netflix from September 4, 2026.