Working in a utensil store for Rs 60 per day, doing odd jobs to make ends meet; lesser known facts of Lock Upp contestant Munawar Faruqui

Stand up comedian, Munawar Faruqui (30) is currently seen in the digital reality show, Lock Upp by Ekta Kapoor. The show, streaming on MX Player, is hosted by Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut and is enjoying massive viewership. Munawar emerged as the most loved contestant of Lock Upp with 40 percent more votes than the other contestants. Here are some of the lesser known facts of the 30-year old comedian. (All Photos - Instagram)

Munawar Faruqui was born on January 28, 1992, in Junagadh, Gujarat. It was in 2007 that his family (father and three sisters), along with him, moved base to Dongri, Mumbai. His mother passed away two years before shifting to Mumbai.

After Munawar's father fell sick, he was compelled to work at a utensil store at the age of 17 while studying in school. He was reportedly paid Rs. 60 per day for a 13-hour long shift. His father passed away in 2020. In one of the recent episodes of Lock Upp, unaware about Munawar's parents' demise, Sara Khan made a remark on them. Munawar then said that he doesn't have parents. Sara felt sorry and asked him to never say that as her parents are his parents and she is his elder sister. Sara broke down after this conversation and Munawar hugged her.

Munawar did various odd jobs to make money to take up the course of Graphic Designing in his early 20s. After his work at the utensil store, he would attend a computer course in the evenings and finally got himself a job as a graphic designer (2009).

Munawar would create comic punches and entertain everyone in his office where he worked as a graphic designer. This led him to follow stand-up as a profession and that's how comedy happened to him. He started his own YouTube channel and uploaded his stand-up acts, roast videos and also projected his singing talent on the platform. He got noticed after his videos garnered millions of views.

Reportedly, comedian and digital personality Munawar Faruqui's annual approx. Net worth as per 2022 is Rs 50 lakhs. The comedian has turned out to be the most-loved contestant on the reality show, Lock Upp hosted by Kangana Ranaut. His performance by far has been applauded by the netizens. Co-contestant Saisha Shinde, recently revealed that she has a soft corner for Munawar.

Munawar Faruqui loves to write poems, sing songs and his social media is all about his writings. He enjoys 1 million followers on social media. However, the comedian has mired himself into controversies a few times due to his stand up acts.

Munawar Faruqui was in news owing to his arrest last year. It was during his stand-up tour in India that he was arrested in a case for allegedly hurting religious sentiments and spent a month in jail. Munawar was arrested in Indore, Madhya Pradesh after a complaint of making malicious jokes about Hindu deities and the Union Home Minister Amit Shah was registered against him. The accuser claimed that he had overheard Munawar’s ‘hurtful’ joke during his rehearsal. Apparently, the comedian was arrested even before he could perform the act. His arrest was heavily criticised for not respecting a comedian's freedom of speech.