Asira Tarannum (MID-DAY; February 5, 2015)

All India Backchod (AIB) Knockout Roast featuring Arjun Kapoor and Ranveer Singh has been embroiled in controversies ever since it aired on YouTube a week ago. The latest being Maharashtra Chief Minister, Devendra Fadnavis’s comment which states that action will be taken if AIB roast is found vulgar and not in accordance with the law.

Now, with the mounting pressure, AIB had pulled out the controversial video. The team tweeted: Have taken down AIB Knockout for now. We will speak soon.

While the knockout took digs at many celebrities such as Deepika Padukone, Alia Bhatt, Anurag Kashyap, Sonakshi Sinha and Sanjay Kapoor among others, with their consent there were many who weren’t spoken to. One such actress was Farida Jalal.

Comedian Ashish Shakya had said: You know Karan, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai is Ranveer’s favourite film. Even now when he watches the movie, he has to reach for tissues because he is the only guy who can jerk off to Farida Jalal.

When we contacted Farida Jalal, she says, “I saw a bit of it and then didn’t watch it further. Naturally people do not like it because it’s not our culture. What do I say about those kids? All I can say is god bless them. I don’t know if they poked fun at me because I didn’t watch the entire show or was there something else. No one told me either.” She adds, “But if they said what you are telling me then it’s quite embarrassing and no they didn’t take my consent.”

Sonam Kapoor, who was also taken a dig at, remained unavailable for comment, but when the actress was asked for her reaction, at a book launch on Tuesday she said, “I haven’t had the time to watch AIB knock out till now.”

A source close to Sridevi revealed that she hasn’t seen the show either as she is in Chennai shooting for a film. “Sridevi is shooting, so she hasn’t seen the show till now. Also she doesn’t like commenting on such things.”

AIB is a comedy collective run by Tanmay Bhat, Ashish Shakya, Rohan Joshi and Gursimran Khamba. The roast panel on the day also included stand-up comics Aditi Mittal and Abish Mathew, film critic Rajeev Masand and former Roadies judge Raghu Ram. The show raised about Rs 40 lakh which was donated to various charities, including Salman Khan’s Being Human.