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Latent and Mess-i: 2025, when almost everything became an issue in India
From the India's Got Latent row to Messi's messy India tour, 2025 saw almost everything spark a controversy. Read on to know the year's biggest flashpoints:
The year 2025 unfolded as a near-constant churn of outrage, spectacle and fatigue, with one controversy bleeding into the next and leaving little room for pause. Even comedy was not immune, increasingly drawn into the culture wars and online pile-ons that came to define the public mood.
To say that the year 2025 was one with many ups and downs would be an understatement to describe the 12 months that passed in a blink for many and were a drag for several, with some or the other event forcing people to ask “what more now” at regular intervals. In a year marked by outrage and what some might say were overreactions, even laughter wasn't spared, turning comedy itself into a battleground.
Like the world, the year was eventful in India and full of controversies – that refused to settle down, stretched for days as well as led to political slugfests - like the row over India's Got Latent YouTube show, the debate around need for a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and the mess that part of football icon Lionel Messi's G.O.A.T India tour was. It's safe to say, 2025 qualified to be what internet would call a ‘kaleshi’ year.
5 controversies of 2025 that refused to leave headlines
- India's Got Latent controversy
Several social media personalities, including Ranveer Allahbadia - who won the first ever National Creators Award from Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2024 - and Apoorva Mukhija, sparked a massive controversy in February this year after a video of their exchange with a contestant on comedian Samay Raina's YouTube show India's Got Latent. The controversy was over content creator and podcaster Allahbadia's question on parents and sex to a contestant on the show.
The remarks led to multiple FIRs across states, National Commission for Women (NCW) issuing a summon and the matter reaching the Supreme Court. Apart from Ranveer Allahbadia, Apoorva Mukhija aka ‘The Rebel Kid’ and Samay Raina, the episode in question featured other content creators such as Ashish Chanchlani, and comedian Jaspreet Singh.
The India's Got Latent controversy forced the content creators to go off public eye for weeks and also pulled the show off YouTube. Creators Ranveer Allahbadia aka BeerBiceps, Apoorva Mukhija and Samay Raina returned made public appearances later through podcasts, social media posts, and stand-up shows, respectively.
2. SIR (Special Intensive Revision) and voter from Brazil
In November, Larissa Nery, a hairdresser in Brazil, woke up to discover she had apparently voted 22 times in Haryana.
Her old photograph, taken years ago and uploaded to a free image website, was showcased by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi as alleged proof of “vote chori” in the electoral rolls. The claim, made amid the controversy over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), instantly turned a technical debate over voter verification into a viral political storm.
Rahul Gandhi alleged that the same image appeared repeatedly on Haryana’s voter lists under multiple names like Seema and Sweey, calling it evidence of a “centralised operation” to manipulate the assembly elections. The revelation sent social media into overdrive - and dragged an unsuspecting Brazilian woman as the headliner of the debate.
Larissa reacted in disbelief, saying reporters had begun calling her salon and her phone was flooded with messages. The Election Commission and the BJP rejected the allegations, questioning why Congress polling agents raised no objections on voting day and defending the SIR process meant to weed out duplicates.
3. Kunal Kamra, Comedy and the Limits of Free Speech
Comedian Kunal Kamra sparked controversy in March this year with comments made during one of his comedy performance, in which he made a “traitor” remark on Maharashtra's deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde.
Following his remark, Shiv Sena workers vandalised a Mumbai studio where Kamra had recorded his show. The Habitat comedy club, which was affected by the attack, then announced a temporary closure.
The Mumbai Police later arrested Shiv Sena functionary Rahool Kanal and 11 accomplices for vandalising the premises. A local court, however, granted them bail the same day.
4. The Marathi Language Row
A series of political and social flashpoints in 2025 centred on the use of Marathi language in Maharashtra, especially Mumbai and its surrounding urban areas, broke out earlier this year, peaking in July. Incidents of non-Marathi speakers getting thrashed by people belonging to political outfits, particularly the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) were reported.
Among the incidents of violence linked to the Marathi row that hit headlines was MNS activists thrashing a sweet shop owner in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region for not speaking Marathi in July.
In the same month, MNS workers damaged the glass door of Mumbai-based share market investor Sushil Kedia's office in Worli after he declared he would not speak Marathi and dared the party chief Raj Thackeray.
The Marathi language row also reached the Supreme Court, with a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) being filed against MNS for allegedly inciting violence.
5. The Mess-i India tour
Football icon Lionel Messi visited India on a three-day trip as part of his G.O.A.T tour and made appearances in West Bengal's Kolkata, Telangana's Hyderabad, Maharashtra's Mumbai as well as Delhi. His tour began with the first pit stop at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata, where things got chaotic when fans - who paid thousands for tickets to see the footballer - could not see Messi as he was surrounded by ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders and other VIPs.
The chaos at the event forced the Argentina captain and World Cup winner to leave the venue within 20 minutes of his arrival.
Angry fans broke barricades, stormed the pitch, and vandalised tents at the Salt Lake Stadium after footballer Messi, who is on a three-day tour of the country, abruptly left the arena amid the overwhelming scenes that were attributed to fans - who bought tickets for thousands to see the sportsman - not getting a clear view of the 38-year old. Courtesy: the encircling by “politicians”.
Messi's other two days in India were relatively smoother, however, complains of fans regarding the footballer being easily accessible to VIPs than to the public that paid for tickets to see him saw no end. Messi concluded his tour with an appearance at Delhi's Arun Jaitley Stadium, post which he was hosted by Anant Ambani - youngest son of billionaire and Reliance Industries Limited Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani - at Vantara in Gujarat's Jamnagar.
The chaos at the Kolkata Salt Lake Stadium led to the arrest of the event organiser - Satadru Datta, resignation of West Bengal sports minister Aroop Biswas, the matter reaching the Calcutta High Court and petitions seeking petitions court’s intervention to transfer the probe into the violence to central agencies such as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO).
