Sudhanshu Pandey is not holding back when it comes to defending senior actor Ashish Vidyarthi. The Anupamaa actor, who appears alongside social media personality Apoorva Mukhija—aka The Rebel Kid—on the reality show The Traitors, recently went live on Instagram to call out what he felt was an inappropriate and disrespectful remark made by Apoorva about Ashish.
Sudhanshu was particularly irked by Apoorva’s casual tone in the now-viral moment where she said, “Mujhe lagta hai Ashish jaayega” (“I feel Ashish will go”). He didn’t mince words when sharing his thoughts, saying, “Is he your childhood friend or what? What kind of way is this to talk about someone—especially an actor who’s older than even your parents? Is this Gen Z cool? Because it’s not. I think it’s the biggest bullsh*t and a curse on our society.”
While Sudhanshu clarified that he doesn’t think Apoorva is a bad person, he made it clear that tone matters, especially when referring to someone as senior and respected as Ashish Vidyarthi. “She’s a good kid, I’m sure she has a good heart,” he said. “But jab aapki zubaan kharaab ho jaaye na, toh sab kuch kharaab ho jaata hai (when your words go wrong, everything else falls apart).”
He further criticised the growing trend of flippant speech among younger influencers, saying, “It reflects very poorly on the generation. Even I have Gen Z kids, but they are extremely respectful to everyone. So what’s going wrong here?”
The Traitors, hosted by Karan Johar and streaming on Prime Video, is the Indian adaptation of the popular Dutch reality format. The show brings together 20 contestants, including Uorfi Javed, Raj Kundra, Raftaar, Maheep Kapoor, and others, to participate in a murder mystery-style game filled with suspicion and strategy. The fourth episode, released June 19, saw Maheep Kapoor being voted out after intense deliberations. Earlier, Raj Kundra was the first to be eliminated after Apoorva exposed him as a Traitor.