Gully Boy actor Vijay Varma reacted to comedian Kunal Kamra’s now viral confrontation with Arnab Goswami by thanking him in an Instagram post. He wrote: “Thank u Kunal Kamra for treating us with a rare sight of silent Arnab. A pleasant change from his t***i-u**i-acid spewing self.” Varma clarified that while he didn’t “subscribe to what Kamra did”, “it felt good to shut that tormentor up for once.”
On Tuesday, 28 January, Kamra posted a video on Twitter of him speaking to Goswami in an IndiGo flight. In the video, he can be seen asking the journalist a number of questions. He goes on to ask him if he’s a journalist or a “coward”. He says that Arnab had called him mentally unstable when he first approached him.
The video went viral on social media, after which IndiGo, suspended Kamra for six months. Air India, SpiceJet and Go Air followed suit, on the behest of Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, and banned the comedian from using their services as well.
Bollywood celebrities, including Swara Bhasker, Anurag Kashyap, Anubhav Sinha and Richa Chadha, have condemned the action taken against Kamra saying that it is disproportionate to the severity of the incident. Comedians such as Rohan Joshi, Kunal Vijaykar and Aniraban Dasgupta have also come out in support of Kamra.
Reacting to the ban on Kunal Kamra imposed by Indigo and Air India, Joshi said, “I think it’s amazing that Indigo and Air India have such strong opinions on people who take on Nazis but are completely comfortable with actual Nazis flying their airlines.” Dasgupta told The Quint, “I am just happy that you did this, Kunal. What you did broke the internet, and I am happy that you did it with a man who is breaking the country.”
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