Bigg Boss’ biggest winner watched mother succumb to father’s physical abuse, survived on Rs 30 a day, worked at a ‘bartan ki dukaan’

Comedian and TV host Munawar Faruqui opens up about his childhood, which was riddled with poverty, domestic abuse, and losing someone very close to him.

By: Entertainment Desk

New Delhi | Updated: August 30, 2025 11:04 AM IST

Munawar Faruqui's mother and three elder sisters. (Photo: Instagram/MunawarFaruqui)

Comedian Munawar Faruqui rose to unimaginable fame through several stints on TV shows such as Bigg Boss. However, the now-successful performer comes from an extremely humble background and has witnessed a lot of pain during his childhood, including losing his mother. In a recent interview, Munawar talked candidly about the kind of conditions he grew up in and all that his mother went through in his youth.

In an appearance on Prakhar Gupta’s podcast, Munawar talked about being desensitised to violence and grief because of what he witnessed as a child. He said, “I didn’t have a very average childhood. Since the age of 4-5, I saw so many wrong things happening that I thought this is how the world works. I used to see my mother and father fight all the time, and every argument would end with my mother getting beaten up. I would sit in the corner and just cry, because you couldn’t do anything about it. It could happen twice in a week, in a month, or for four days in a row.”

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He talked about his mother’s struggles in detail and shared how she did everything she could to keep the house going, without getting an ounce of appreciation. “She used to get Rs 30 for the day, and she had to manage the whole household with that money. The milk alone cost Rs 6, and everything else, from meat, vegetables, pulses, and rice, had to be bought with the remaining money, and it just wasn’t possible. She used to do embroidery and make torans to earn some extra money so that we could afford to eat. She was everywhere, and she was ready to help everyone. When people used to come back from weddings, with the new bride and all, someone had to cook for the entire group. It wasn’t a city, where you could just call someone up; it was a village. Kisiko toh pakana hai na khana (someone has to cook the food), so she used to cook for 200-250 people all by herself.

He added that his mother never needed a thank you, but only from her own family and her husband, something she never got. “She kept on going, and she was a very patient person. Through those 22 years that she was married to my father, she displayed a lot of patience, and it was never easy. No one can endure such pain, and the decision she took was the culmination of everything she had endured for all those years. But she passed away, and I still question the way she went, but I think this was the way she was supposed to leave us,” said Munawar.

He clarified that due to all this, he was never concerned about his financial condition, as he had so much else to deal with. He said, “Being poor while growing up was my last concern; I never felt poor because there was so much else that was going on in my life. It didn’t matter if we couldn’t afford school fees, and I never used to question why I didn’t have the things that other kids had. Now, the life I have currently – that wasn’t even my dream; I couldn’t think that big. Jab mai bartan ki dukaan mai kaam karta tha (When I used to work in a utensil shop), there was a house overlooking the market, with a single room and a kitchen. I used to look at the house every day and think that one day, I’ll live there. Those were my dreams, and my reality today is beyond anything I ever wanted.”

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