Dubai: An Indian-origin stand-up comedian died on stage due to high level of anxiety while performing his act in front of a packed audience here, according to a media report.

Manjunath Naidu, 36, suffered a cardiac arrest while performing his routine on stage on Friday.

He complained of high level of anxiety, sat down on the bench next to him and collapsed onto the floor, with audience thinking that it must be a part of the show, Khaleej Times reported.

Naidu was born in Abu Dhabi but later shifted base to Dubai.

"He was the last act in the line-up. He went on stage and was making people laugh with his stories. He was talking about his father and family. And then he got into a story of how he suffers from anxiety. And a minute into the story he collapsed," Miqdaad Dohadwala, his friend and fellow comedian, was quoted as saying in the report.

People thought it was part of the act. They took it as a joke as he was talking about anxiety and then collapsed, he said. 

Dohadwala said that the paramedics could not revive him. "His parents passed away and he has a brother but no relatives here. All in the arts and comedy circle are his family," he added.

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New Delhi: Yoga guru Baba Ramdev has sharply criticised the United States and Israel over their conflict with Iran, in a video from a television interview that has gone viral on social media.

Speaking on a show aired by ABP News, Ramdev was asked whether India should support Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who was reported to have been killed on the first day of the war on February 28.

Responding to the question, Ramdev said, “You can kill a person, but you cannot kill his ideas, his philosophy, his mindset, his spirit, or his valour and heroism.”

He went on to express support for Iran, saying he may not know much about the country but believes its people cannot be subdued. Referring to the Shia Muslim community, he said no one could make them “bow down” or defeat them, adding that a significant section of Iran’s population strongly identifies with Khamenei’s ideology.

When asked about Netanyahu, Ramdev criticised both him and US President Donald Trump, saying they are “both cut from the same cloth.” He added, “I am not calling anyone a thief; I am simply citing a proverb it implies that they are both of the same ilk, and I consider them both to be war criminals. I consider them criminals against humanity; I consider them criminals against nature and the environment.”

He further said that the United States and Israel have “erected a Himalaya-sized mountain of political mistrust” and claimed that both countries would have to face the consequences for decades. “In this conflict, neither can America and Israel emerge victorious, nor can Iran be defeated,” he said.

Ramdev’s remarks come at a time when India’s position on the conflict has drawn attention. The government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has maintained what it describes as “strategic autonomy” in foreign policy.