Munawar Faruqui | ||||||||||
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Birth name | Munawar Iqbal Faruqui | |||||||||
Born | [1] Junagadh, Gujarat, India[2] | 28 January 1992|||||||||
Medium | Stand-up comedy | |||||||||
Nationality | Indian | |||||||||
Years active | 2018–present | |||||||||
Genres | ||||||||||
Spouse |
Jasmine
(m. 2017; div. 2022) | |||||||||
Children | 1 | |||||||||
YouTube information | ||||||||||
Channel | ||||||||||
Years active | 2018–present | |||||||||
Genre |
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Subscribers | 4.71 million[4] | |||||||||
Total views | 360.51 million[4] | |||||||||
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Last updated: 23 January 2024 |
Munawar Iqbal Faruqui (born 28 January 1992) is an Indian stand-up comedian, rapper and singer. In 2022, he won the Kangana Ranaut's reality TV show, Lock Upp (Season 1).[5] In 2023, he participated in Bigg Boss (Season 17) and emerged as the winner.[6]
Faruqui was born in Junagadh, Gujarat,[7][8] on 28 January 1992 to a Gujarati Muslim family.[9] His father lost the money and came under a huge debt.[10] Due to financial constraints, he left school after the 5th class.[11] He started to work to make the ends meet. Still a child, he worked at a gift shop and later joined his mother & grandmother in making and selling samosas & chaklis.[10] His mother died of suicide when he was 14 years old. After his mother's death, he relocated to Mumbai at his aunt's request.[10][12] He started to do some odd jobs in Mumbai.[13] In 2020, his father passed away, after suffering from paralysis.[13]
In April 2020, he uploaded a standup comedy video named "Dawood, Yamraaj & Aurat" on his channel, which earned him his initial stardom.[14] He released his debut song "Jawab" in collaboration with an Indian musician Spectra in August 2020.
On 28 February 2021, he uploaded a standup comedy video named "Ghost Story" on his YouTube Channel.[15]
In 2022, he became a contestant on Balaji Telefilms's reality television show Lock Upp, hosted by Kangana Ranaut.[16][17] On 8 May 2022, he was declared the show's winner.[18] The show was streamed on OTT platforms ALTBalaji and MX Player.[19]
On 5 November 2022, he did a Punjabi song named "Todh" along with Prince Narula and Rony Ajnali.
In 2023, he became a contestant on the reality TV show Bigg Boss 17, hosted by Salman Khan. On 28 January 2024, he was declared the show's winner.
Faruqui married Jasmine[20][21] in 2017 but the marriage ended in a divorce in 2022. The ex-couple has a five-year-old son.[22] Since December 2021, he had been dating social media influencer Nazila Sitaishi.[8][23][24][25] In Bigg Boss, his ex-partner Ayesha Khan accused him for two-timing her and Sitaishi and being involved with multiple women.[26][27] Subsequently, on 18 December 2023, Sitaishi broke up with him on Instagram live, accusing him of cheating.[28][29]
Munawar Faruqui was on his tour where he was performing comedy in different cities of India. On 1 January 2021, he performed a stand-up show at Munro Cafe in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, which was interrupted by Eklavya Singh Gaur, son of BJP MLA Malini Gaur[30] accusing him of making malicious jokes about Hindu deities and the Minister of Home Affairs of India, Amit Shah.[31] On 2 January, he was arrested by Madhya Pradesh Police in the midst of his comic act, stating that he was arrested under the Hate speech laws in India.[32] The police however, had no evidence against Munawar, still arrested him.[33]
His arrest was heavily criticised for not respecting a comedian's freedom of speech, including by a joint initiative of the global Indian diaspora on 2 February 2021, that said a group of South Asian American stand-up comedians will perform a virtual comedy show on 6 February 2021 to show their solidarity with jailed Faruqui.[34] He was subsequently granted bail by the Supreme Court of India.[35] He spent 37 days in the jail.[13]
Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
2019 | Coldd Lassi Aur Chicken Masala | Roast Comic | ||
2022 | Lock Upp 1 | Contestant | Winner | [36] |
2023–2024 | Bigg Boss 17 | [37] |
Year | Track | Co-artist | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
2020 | "Jawab" | Spectra | [38] | |
"Nagpada Ka Rider" | Spectra | [39][40] | ||
2021 | "Aazmaish" | Nazz | [9][41] | |
"Dus Lakh" | Spectra | [42][citation needed] | ||
"Hunarat" | [43][44] | |||
"Khawab" | DRJ Sohail | [45] | ||
2022 | "Kalandar" | Farhan Khan | [46] | |
"Khamoshi" | Farhan Khan | [47] | ||
"Todh" | Prince Narula | [42] | ||
"Kaamil" | [42] | |||
2023 | "Alag BT" | Hitzone | From his first Album: "Madari" | |
"Noor" | [48] | |||
"Madari" | Farhan Khan, Charan | [49] | ||
"Mumtaz" | ||||
"Kajal" | ||||
"Tu Lage Mujhe" | ||||
"KOD" | ||||
"Malaal" | ft.Rashmeet Kaur | |||
"Legacy" | Ganesh Acharya |