19 September,2026 09:49 AM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Samay Raina. Pic via X
Nawazuddin Siddiqui found himself at the centre of Samay Raina's jokes during his appearance on India's Got Latent Season 2. The actor appeared on the latest episode alongside Bhuvan Bam, Mukesh Chhabra and Kaustubh Agarwal, where Samay repeatedly brought up Nawazuddin's film Thamma.
The horror-comedy, starring Ayushmann Khurrana and Rashmika Mandanna, received mixed reactions following its release. Samay wasted no time referencing the film while interacting with Nawazuddin. Samay asked, "Sir, why did you do Thamma? Why did you even make it?" The actor initially appeared taken aback and asked, "Thamma?" before responding, "Well, it got made. It's done."
When Samay asked if he could make such comments, Nawazuddin played along, saying, "I mean, sure. You already said it anyway. What more could you say?" Samay then jokingly asked for permission, to which Nawazuddin replied, "You really should."
The conversation later shifted to Sacred Games, with Samay praising the Netflix series and Nawazuddin's performance. He jokingly referred to the character's lifestyle in the show, before saying that the actor would then turn up on set.
Nawazuddin responded with a joke of his own, saying, "I came prepared the same way today."
Samay also appeared to reference the controversy surrounding an earlier episode of the show featuring Ranveer Allahbadia, popularly known as Beer Biceps, telling Nawazuddin to "choose your words wisely" because people sitting in his seat had previously said some outrageous things.
The Thamma jokes came back again later in the episode when Samay asked Nawazuddin to help a contestant learn how to act so he could ask a female contestant out on a date. Nawazuddin admitted that he gets scared in such situations. When Samay asked whether he knew how to act, the actor confidently replied, "Yeah, I can act."
Samay immediately brought Thamma back into the conversation by asking, "So, what went wrong with Thamma?" The question left the panel and audience laughing. Nawazuddin responded, "Come on, man. I will act like I did in Thamma then." Samay quickly stopped him, joking, "No, not the Thamma one, please."
Thamma starred Ayushmann Khurrana and Rashmika Mandanna in the lead roles, directed by Aditya Sarpotdar, with Nawazuddin also appearing in the film. The movie was reportedly made on a budget of around Rs 125 crore and earned Rs 187.59 crore at the box office.
