It was meant to be a fun, no-holds-barred interaction but cricketer Hardik Pandya, by his own admission, got "carried away".
Appearing on "Koffee with Karan", hosted by filmmaker Karan Johar, with teammate K L Rahul, Pandya's apparent loose talk on women and his sexuality took many by surprise.
Three days after the celebrity chat show aired on Sunday, the two cricketers on Wednesday were issued show cause notices by the BCCI, which took note of the massive outrage on social media and elsewhere.
For most of the show, it was Pandya, who issued an apology for the remarks called sexist and misogynistic, who took it upon himself to say the most outrageous things, mostly on women.
Sample this: "Why don't you ask women's names at nightclubs?" asked Johar when Pandya spoke about his struggle in remembering names of the women he interacts with in parties.
"I like to watch and observe how they move. I'm little from the Black side so I need to see how they move," responded Pandya.
From that to talk on his sex life, Pandya's brashness did not taper down.
“When I lost my virginity, I came home and said, “Main karke aaya hai aaj (I did it today),” was his response to a question on how “cool” he is with his family members.
"At a party my parents asked me acha tera wala (women) kaun sa hai (Which are your women)? I said yeh, yeh, yeh (pointing out women) and they were like waah proud of you beta," he went on to add to stress on the "cool quotient" of his family.
The line of questioning to the two cricketers also seemed excessively focussed on women -- the ones they have dated, those they wish to date and which of them was the more attractive one.
"If you all hit on the same women, then how do you decide?" asked the filmmaker. Rahul's response was, "up to the woman." Pandya was more outspoken. "Nahi nahi aisa kuch nahi hai, talent pe hota hai. Jisko mila woh leke jao (Nothing like that, it's about talent, whoever gets them, takes them)," said the all-rounder with a little shrug of the shoulders.
The 25-year-old later said he got carried away by the “nature of the show” and is currently busy drafting a response to the BCCI show cause notice.
Rahul's comments on the show have not drawn any criticism but the fact that the duo appeared together perhaps also had him caught in the social media storm.
Ironically, Rahul was questioned about his thoughts on social media on the show, whether he thought of it is a blessing or a curse. "It's a bit of both. It's how you see it," he stated. To that same question, Pandya, with a wink, responded, "blessing."
Pandya later posted his apology on Twitter.
"After reflecting on my comments on Koffee with Karan, I would like to apologise to everyone concerned who I may have hurt in any way," he said.
"Honestly, I got a bit carried away with the nature of the show. In no way did I mean to disrespect or hurt anyone's sentiments. Respect," the cricketer added.
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