Munawar Faruqui is an Indian stand-up comedian and writer who is known for his controversial remarks on religion and Indian politics, which often land him in trouble.
Wiki/Biography
Munawar Faruqui was born on Tuesday, January 28, 1992 (32 years old as of 2024) in Junagadh, Gujarat. His full name is Munawar Iqbal Faruqui. He is well versed in graphic designing and art direction.
appearance
Height (approximate): 5′ 7″
Hair color: Black
Eye color: dark brown
Family and religion
Munawar belongs to a Muslim family from Junagadh.
Parents and siblings
He has a younger sister named Shabana Shaikh.
Wife and children
According to Munawar, he got married in 2017. In an episode of the reality show Bigg Boss 17 (2023), Munawar revealed that he has a son named Mikael. He added that he was divorced in 2022. In April 2022, in an episode of the reality show Lock Upp hosted by Kangana Ranaut, he talked about his wife and said that he had not lived with his wife for 1.5 years.
Munawar Faruqui with his wife and son
On May 26, 2024, he married makeup artist Mehzabeen Coatwala at ITC Grand Central Hotel in Mumbai. This is his second marriage.
Munawar Faruqui and Mehzabeen Coatwala
Mehzabin Kotwala
Relationship/affair
Nazra Sitesh
In December 2021, it was reported that Munawar was dating Indian model Nazila Sitaishi.
Munawar Farooqui and Nazira Sitesh
In 2022, rumors of their breakup started to surface, but they later denied them. In an episode of Bigg Boss 17, Munawar Faruqui mentioned that he was in a relationship with someone, but he did not reveal the name. According to him, he had been dating this person for two years. Munawar and Nazila ended their relationship in 2023. On December 18, 2023, after actor Ayesha Khan accused him of double dating her on Bigg Boss 17, Nazila took to social media to clarify that she was not in any relationship with Munawar.
Aisha Khan
Munawar was allegedly in a relationship with actress and model Ayesha Khan. In 2023, Ayesha claimed that Munawar had been on a double date with her. According to Ayesha, Munawar had told her that he had broken up with Nazira but was still talking to her. However, Munawar later stated in an episode that he was not over Nazira and that he wanted to make things right.
Aisha Khan
Before Ayesha entered the show, Bigg Boss 17 released a teaser in which she can be heard saying,
You told me you had broken up with Nazira, yet you were on the show talking loudly about your relationship with her. You told me you loved me and wanted to spend time with me. You told me you loved me and wanted to spend quality time with me. And all this happened while you were begging her to say… It wasn’t one-on-one. I took the picture. I just wanted to chat with you. There were other women involved.
Ayesha further stated,
He asked me out. Even though we weren’t engaged, something was going on between us. Now he’s lying on national television about his dating life. I need to confront him. He broke my trust. He got me hooked while he was having affairs with other women.”
Later in Bigg Boss 17, Munawar expressed his desire to be in a relationship with Ayesha. He asked Ayesha’s family whether they would accept him after resolving their issues. Soon after the episode aired, multiple media outlets reported that they were back in a relationship.
It’s almost official#AyeshaKhan and #MunawarFaruqui In a relationship #BigBoss17
— Khabri (@TheKhabriTweets) December 27, 2023
🚨 Tonight’s episode – Munawar Faruqui indirectly proposes to Ayesha Khan
Munawar expressed his desire to have a romantic relationship with Ayesha. Munawar asked if Ayesha’s family would agree to their union if they resolved their differences. He further asked if they could have a…
— #BiggBoss_Tak👁 (@BiggBoss_Tak) December 27, 2023
Profession
Talk Show
Munawar is a stand-up comedian from Mumbai. Most of his content is political and he usually criticizes the Narendra Modi government. Here is a video where he talks about NRC (National Register of Citizens) and the Delhi riots that took place during the anti-CAA protests in 2020.
Farooqui is a popular stand-up comedian who in 2019 toured virtually all over India with his stand-up special Dongri To Nowhere.
Apart from being a stand-up comedian, he is also a singer and rapper. Munawar released his debut rap song “Jawab” during the COVID-19 lockdown.
His videos have been viewed a total of more than 23 million times on YouTube. Faruqui’s YouTube channel has about 535,000 subscribers.
Reality Show
On May 8, 2022, Munawar Faruqui was announced as the winner of the reality show Lock Upp hosted by Kangana Ranaut. Payal Rohatgi was the runner-up, while Anjali Arora was the third runner-up of the show. In addition to the championship trophy, Faruqui also received a cash prize of Rs 20 lakh and a brand new car. On the show, Faruqui revealed a lot about his past, including his divorce, his mother’s suicide, and the sexual assault he suffered in his childhood.
Munawar Faruqui after winning the first season of Lock Up
In 2023, Munawar Faruqui participated as a contestant in the reality show Bigg Boss 17. The show aired on Colors TV.
Munawar Faruqui to star in reality show Bigg Boss 17 (2023)
On January 28, 2024, he was declared the winner of the contest; he received a cheque for Rs 50 lakh and a Hyundai Creta.
Munawar Faruqui won the show “Bigg Boss 17” along with Salman Khan
Awards
- Winner (2018): Comic Kaun 4.0 by Pizza Burst
Munawar Faruqui wins Kahn Prize for Comics
- Winner (2018): Open Mic at Synergy Fest
Munawar Faruqui wins Open Mic competition
dispute
- In April 2020, Munawar courted controversy after he mocked the Hindu gods Rama and Sita and the 2002 Godhra massacre in a YouTube video in which he described the massacre as a fictional film directed by Amit Shah and produced by the RSS. Ramesh Solanki, a Hindu nationalist activist and former Shiv Sena member, filed a case against him with the Mumbai police.
Online complaint has been made @Mumbai Police Against hate mongers @FaruquiMunawar I request the Mumbai Police to register a case and take strict action against the Munavar who mocked Sri Ram and Sita Maata@CyberDost @MahaCyber1 @ippatel @TajinderBagga @Aabhas24 @ShefVaidya @AskAnshul @MODIfiedVikas @ pic.twitter.com/52O8AkJP4R
— Ramesh Solanki (Modi Ka Parivar) 🇮🇳 (@Rajput_Ramesh) April 14, 2020
He soon faced a backlash on Twitter, with thousands of people posting on it using the hashtag #ArrestMunawarFaruqui. He later apologized for not intentionally hurting people’s religious sentiments.
You call this stand-up comedy @FaruquiMunawar ? Can you make fun of other religions and gods, including your own, with words like this? You are disgusting. @Mumbai Police Action needs to be taken on this nonsense. @Dev_Fadnavis @DevangVDave @Rajput_Ramesh https://t.co/mq6FGL3pUY
— Punit Agarwal (Modi Ka Pariwal) (@Punitspeaks) April 15, 2020
- On January 1, 2020, Munawar was arrested along with four other comedians during a performance in Indore for allegedly making obscene remarks about Hindu gods and mocking Indian Home Minister Amit Shah. The complaint was filed by Eklavya Singh Gaur, the son of local BJP MP Malini Singh Gaur, who heads the Hindu nationalist group Hind Rakshak Sangathanson. Gaur told reporters,
When I heard about Munawar’s show, I bought a ticket and went to watch it. As expected, he insulted Hindu gods and used the Godhra riots to ridicule Home Minister Amit Shah. These offensive remarks took place during the comedy show. We shot a video and kicked the audience out of the cafe to stop the show. We then caught the comedian and the show organizer and took them to the Tukoganj police station.”
A few days later, a video of Gaur and Munawar arguing went viral, in which Gaur accused Munawar of making jokes about Hindu gods and hurting the religious sentiments of Hindus, while Munawar calmly explained that nothing like this had happened. Later, Kamlesh Sharma, an officer at Tukaganj police station, told The Indian Express that there was no video evidence to support the allegations of insulting Hindu gods and Union Minister Amit Shah. Many famous comedians, including Varun Grover, Vir Das and Rohan Joshi, came out in support of Munawar and criticized his arrest.
You can’t stop the jokes and the laughter. Not because the comedian is performing, but because people need to laugh. The harder you try, the more you’ll be laughed at, now, and throughout history.
Anyone who has ever tried to control humor now has a category of jokes aimed specifically at them.
— Vir Das (@thevirdas) January 3, 2021
I’m just going to leave it here. pic.twitter.com/C8eqqDzPya
— Vir Das (@thevirdas) January 3, 2021
Despite no hard evidence being found against Munawar, his bail plea was rejected for the third time by the Madhya Pradesh High Court on the grounds that the investigation was ongoing and more evidence might be found.
- On November 28, 2021, he hinted that he might quit stand-up comedy, a day after his scheduled performance in Bengaluru was cancelled. Police reportedly advised the comedian to cancel the performance due to possible law and order issues. Earlier, several right-wing groups opposed Farooqui’s performance, saying his performance could disturb communal harmony and that Farooqui was in the habit of making “unacceptable” jokes about Hindu gods, the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2020 and the Kasewak massacre in Godhra. The right-wing group Hindu Independent Commission sent a letter to Bengaluru Police Commissioner Kamal Pant, which read:
By allowing Munawar Faruqui, who hurt the religious sentiments of Hindus, to come to power, he is giving him an opportunity to repeat these crimes…Should such plans to disturb communal harmony be allowed when the memory of DJ Halli riots is still fresh in people’s minds?”
- In December 2021, he was disqualified from participating in the upcoming three-day comedy show in Gurgaon after the head of the BJP’s Haryana IT cell filed a complaint against him. In his complaint, Arun Yadav, the head of the BJP’s Haryana IT cell, accused Mr. Farooqui of insulting Hindu gods. He said,
His actions offend my Hindu faith. He did this deliberately to stir up communal disharmony.”
Bicycle Collection
He has a KTM RC 200.
salary
He reportedly earns Rs 1.5 lakh for each appearance on the comedy show. In October 2023, it was reported that Munawar was one of the highest-paid contestants on the show Bigg Boss 17. He reportedly gets paid around Rs 70-80 lakh for each week he appears on the show.
net worth
According to an article published in October 2023, Munawar Faruqui’s net worth is estimated to be around Rs 2 crore.
Facts/Trivia
- In the video of his dispute with Eklavya Singh Gaur, he mentioned that his house was burnt down during the 2002 Gujarat riots and the dispute was related to Munawar insulting Hindu deities.
- He likes to eat non-vegetarian food.
- He likes to smoke hookah occasionally.
- In January 2024, actor Anjali Arora accused Munawar, with whom she had starred in the 2022 reality show Lock Upp, of being a “playboy”. In an interview, she said of Munawar that he knew how to play with words and girls very well. When the interviewer asked her the reason behind these accusations, she replied:
Kunki unhone kitni ladkiyon ki zindagi se…I don’t know kitni ladkiyon ki Abhi sacchayi bahar aana Baaki hai. “
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education