Mumbai-based stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra found himself in legal trouble after mocking Maharashtra Deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde during a performance at the Habitat comedy club in Khar.
Kamra referred to Shinde as a “gaddar” (traitor) in a reworked version of the song from the Bollywood movie Dil To Pagal Hai, referencing Shinde’s 2022 defection that split the Shiv Sena.
What followed was a vandalised venue, an FIR filed by Shiv Sena MLA Murji Patel, and an internet storm where Kamra’s critics and supporters battled it out.
Kamra's penchant for provocative humour has often sparked political controversies.
Here are notable instances where his humour and activism have stirred political sentiments and led to legal challenges:
Earlier this month, Kunal Kamra triggered a row with his joke about Bollywood superstar Salman Khan during one of his stand-up shows.
Amid reports that Bollywood movie Sikandar star Salman Khan was planning to file a defamation suit against Kamra, the comedian said he will not apologise for his jokes.
The joke was about Salman Khan's involvement in two major legal cases: the 1998 blackbuck poaching case and the 2002 hit-and-run case.
In 1998, during the filming of Hum Saath Saath Hain in Rajasthan, Salman Khan was accused of hunting two blackbucks in Kankani village near Jodhpur.
The hit-and-run case in 2002 involved Khan allegedly ramming his car into a pavement in Mumbai’s Bandra, which caused the death of one person and injuries to four others.
Khan was acquitted of all charges in 2015 by the Bombay high court due to inconsistencies in the prosecution's evidence.
Kamra also locked horns with Ola Electric CEO Bhavish Aggarwal, criticising the company over unresolved customer complaints and refund issues.
When Aggarwal challenged Kamra to help fix the problems or “shut up,” Kamra doubled down on his critique, emphasising the need for accountability in business practices.
In 2023, Kamra took on the Indian government, filing a petition against the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) rules, 2023.
He argued that provisions allowing a government-appointed fact-checking unit to label content as fake or misleading threatened freedom of expression.
The Bombay high court delivered a split verdict, declaring Rule 3(1)(b)(v) unconstitutional, validating Kamra’s concerns about overreach and censorship.
In September 2022, Kamra’s show in Gurugram was cancelled due to threats from the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal.
In response, Kamra wrote an open letter challenging the VHP to denounce Nathuram Godse, Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin, if they opposed terrorism.
He also demanded evidence that he had ever insulted Hinduism, clarifying that his satire was aimed at the government, not religion.
In May 2020, Kunal Kamra landed in a controversy for sharing an edited video of a seven-year-old boy singing for PM Narendra Modi during his visit to Germany.
In the clip, the song ‘Hey Janmabhoomi Bharat’, crooned by the boy, was replaced with the 2010 movie Peepli Live’s famous number ‘Mehengayi daayan khaaye jaat hai’.
Ganesh Pol, the boy's father, called out Kamra and asked him to keep his child away from his “filthy politics”.
Kamra responded saying that he was not mocking the child. The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) took cognisance of the incident and asked Twitter (now X) and the Delhi Police to take down the tweet.
Kunal Kamra later deleted his post.
Again in May, during his stand-up show “Be Like”, Kamra called the Supreme Court a “Brahmin-Baniya affair,” triggering contempt proceedings.
Petitioners argued that his remark insulted the judiciary, while Kamra defended it as satire, claiming that being offended had become a “national sport.”
In January 2020, during an IndiGo flight, Kamra confronted journalist Arnab Goswami, questioning his journalistic practices.
In a two-minute video uploaded by him on his Twitter account, Kamra was heard asking the scribe: "Here, I am asking coward Arnab about his journalism and he is doing exactly what I expected him to do.”
Goswami remained unresponsive throughout
After the video went viral, an investigation was launched into the incident following which IndiGo imposed a six-month ban on Kamra, terming his act a Level 1 offence.
Other airlines, including Air India, SpiceJet, and GoAir, banned him.
The ban was later reduced to three months.
In 2020, Kunal Kamra found himself at the centre of another controversy when he mocked the then Chief Justice of India Sharad Arvind Bobde.
In a post on X (then Twitter), Kamra said, “One of these fingers is for CJI Bobde…ok let me not confuse you it’s the middle one,” along with a picture of two figures.
The comedian's post came after the apex court granted interim bail to Arnab Goswami in a 2018 abetment to suicide case.
Attorney General KK Venugopal filed contempt proceedings were filed against Kamra for obscene and derogatory comments against the CJI.