Saima Raina

• Born — 26 October 1997 • Birthplace — Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir India • Education — PVG's College of Engineering • Occupation — * Stand-up comedian • YouTuber • Years Active — 2017–present • Known for — * India's Got Latent • Comicstaan 2 • Youtube Handle — SamayRainaOfficial • Youtube Display Name — Samay Raina • Youtube Genre — * Comedy • Gameplay • Chess • Youtube Subscribers — 11.4 million • Youtube Views — 1.1 billion • Stats Update — 7 September 2026

Raina was born in Jammu city of the erstwhile Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir into a conservative Kashmiri Pandit family from Salia area of Seer Hamdan Anantnag. He grew up in Hyderabad, where he completed his schooling. He enrolled in a print engineering course at Vidhyarthi Griha's College of Engineering and Technology in Pune, Maharashtra, which he said was a waste of time, and started doing open mic events and eventually became a regular in the local comedy scene.

After performing at multiple open mics since 27 August 2017, Raina began opening for well-known comedians like Anirban Dasgupta and Abhishek Upmanyu in Pune. As he gained recognition, he moved to Mumbai to pursue a career in stand-up comedy and gave several successful shows in Mumbai and several cities across the nation. In 2019, he participated in Comicstaan 2 due to a suggestion from comedian Aakash Gupta. Later, he became the joint winner of Comicstaan 2 with Gupta, aired on Amazon Prime Video. In 2023, Raina performed at the launch party of American DJ KSHMR's album KARAM, at antiSOCIAL in Mumbai. In 2025, he announced a nationwide tour across India, "Still Alive And Unfiltered", which was touted as a comeback, following the controversy surrounding his show, India's Got Latent. The tour commenced in Bengaluru on 15 August and ended in Delhi on 5 October. In 2026, he became one of the youngest Indian comedians to perform at Madison Square Garden, closing his global leg of the tour. On 7 March 2026, he released his debut comedy special, Still Alive, on YouTube, after almost a year of hiatus from the platform, which became the most viewed stand-up comedy special on YouTube. In June 2026, he announced two collaborations with Netflix India; the first being the second season of his show India's Got Latent, which would be streaming on Netflix as well as YouTube, and the second being a new stand-up special. In August 2026, Raina was felicitated by the Chief Minister of Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis, for his contribution to the cyber-awareness short film Digital Arrest, and the "1930 Maharashtra Cyber Anthem", produced by the Maharashtra Cyber Cell.

During the COVID-19 pandemic in India, the government cancelled all outdoor events, and thus, Raina could no longer perform stand-up comedy. He then began streaming chess games on his YouTube channel at the fellow comedian Tanmay Bhat's suggestion. His viewership boosted when he invited YouTuber Antonio Radić, popularly known as Agadmator, to his channel. In response to this, Indian GM Vidit Gujrathi tweeted that he would like to join Raina on his track. Eventually, Gujrathi appeared on Raina's channel, giving another boost to Raina's viewership. Since then, the two have fostered a strong relationship and frequently feature on each other's channels. Gujrathi attributes his moving from Twitch to YouTube to Raina's suggestion. He has also appeared in the music videos for Seedhe Maut's "11K", KRSNA's "Sensitive", and Raftaar's "Baawe". According to many chess proponents, including GMs Viswanathan Anand, Vidit Gujrathi, Anish Giri, Teimour Radjabov, Baskaran Adhiban, Emil Sutovsky and IMs Tania Sachdev and Sagar Shah, Raina has been instrumental in popularising chess in India through his channel. Raina tries to make the game of chess more appealing to the masses through his humour which, according to many, has helped him reach a larger audience. Several well-known chess personalities like Pentala Harikrishna, Judit Polgár, former world chess champions Vladimir Kramnik, Viswanathan Anand, Garry Kasparov and Magnus Carlsen have appeared on Raina's channel. He also organised chess tournaments featuring Indian celebrities such as cricketer Yuzvendra Chahal, and played chess with actor Aamir Khan. In addition to chess, he also live streams many other games on his YouTube channel.

Samay plays on Chess.com as "M" Master samayraina also known as (Blunder Master "BM"). As of 2026 5, Raina has a rating of 1621 at rapid chess on chess.com, while the highest recorded rating was 1942 on 3 August 2026. On 5 May 2021, Raina won the $10,000 Botez Bullet Invitational, a one-hour amateur bullet arena tournament sponsored by Chess.com and hosted by the Botez sisters. He was the only Indian streamer competing among some of the top international Twitch streamers and earned $4000. In December 2025, he won the SuperPogChamps tournament hosted by chess.com, which featured 12 influencers from all over the world, including Andrea Botez and Sardoche. By winning the title, Samay earned $10,000 (Rs 8.9 lakh approx), the top prize in the Championship Bracket. He donated the prize money to the Lidè Haiti to help promote learning, health and well-being for Haitian girls.

He started organising online chess tournaments on his channel to attract the online audience to chess, called Comedians On Board (COB), inviting many of his comedian friends and other celebrities. Comedians on Board Tournament • Season — Dates — Winner — Runner-up 1 — Runner-up 2 • Comedians on Board (COB) #1 — 29 March-2 Apr 2020 — Aakash Mehta — Kunal Rao • Comedians on Board (COB) #2 — 1-3 July 2020 — Anirban DasGupta — Samay Raina — Biswa Kalyan Rath • Comedians on Board (COB) #3 — 19-21 Nov 2020 — Joel Dsouza — Vaibhav Sethia — Samay Raina • Comedians on Board All Stars #4 — 22-30 March 2021 — Samay Raina — Biswa Kalyan Rath • Comedians on Board All In #5 — 11-14 Aug 2021 — Samay Raina — Joel Dsouza — Prakhar Gupta • Comedians on Board Gang War (Team Event) — 21-27 March 2022 — Susha Squad (Team Owner- Suhani Shah) — Wazir-e-Vaibhav (Team Owner- Vaibhav Sethia) — Bot Army (Team Owner- Tanmay Bhat) • Comedians on Board: Homecoming — 27-29 March 2024 — Tracy Viegas — Vivek Desai — Vaibhav Sethia

Raina with ChessBase India and Nodwin Gaming organised an online chess league called Chess Super League consisting of some of the Top International and Indian Grandmasters, International Masters and Indian Junior Players, competing in six teams of six players each. For the prize pool of. The entire event was streamed on Raina's YouTube Channel. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he began streaming chess games along with multiple comedians and chess masters. He has raised substantial amounts of money for various causes through his YouTube channel, including help for waste pickers, and relief for West Bengal and Assam flood victims.

In June 2024, Samay Raina launched India's Got Latent, a reality show focused on uncovering hidden talents. He then ventured into the tech and entertainment space with the launch of his app, India's Got Latent, inspired by his YouTube show. Raina said he aimed to eventually transition the platform into a full-fledged OTT service, featuring shows across genres such as poetry, rap, and reality TV. Within hours of launch, the app reached top of the charts on Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

Amidst the overturning of the US Roe v. Wade Supreme Court ruling in 2022, Raina tweeted a joke on abortion rights. The joke was poorly received, which Raina blamed on cancel culture while critics assailed the joke as misogynist or simply not humorous.

On 10 February 2025, the Chief Minister of Assam Himanta Biswa Sarma tweeted that the Guwahati Police had registered a first information report against Raina as well as other YouTubers, including Ashish Chanchlani, Jaspreet Singh, Apoorva Makhija, Ranveer Allahbadia, for promoting obscenity and engaging in sexually explicit and vulgar discussions on India's Got Latent. Allahbadia had asked a contestant on the show a hypothetical question about parental incest. Sarma also informed that the Guwahati Crime Branch had filed the case under various sections of BNS 2023, the IT Act, 2000, the Cinematograph Act, 1952, and the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986. He added that the police investigation into the matter was ongoing. The issue was also raised in the Zero Hour of Parliament, with concerns raised about regulating platforms like YouTube. Later, the video was removed following objections from the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). The Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis condemned the YouTuber's comment. This concluded in the removal of his show from YouTube.

• Year — Title — Role — Notes — Ref. • 2019 — Comicstaan 2 — Contestant — Winner • 2021 — Comedy Premium League — Contestant • One Mic Stand — Himself — Season 2; Episode 5 • 2024–present — India's Got Latent — Host/Judge — All episodes • 2025 — Kaun Banega Crorepati — Himself — As a contestant with Tanmay Bhat • Ekaki — RJ Samay — Voice cameo in Episode 3 • 2026 — Still Alive — Himself — Comedy special • The Great Indian Kapil Show — Himself — Special episode, appeared as a guest alongside Ranveer Allahbadia

Saima Raina is recorded as television producer, stand-up comedian, youtuber, association football player and martial artist.