Munawar Faruqui played the toughest game of ’em all. In fact, in the history of Bigg Boss, no contestant has been defamed and shamed as much as him. He’s the controversial Munawar Faruqui… the stand-up comedienne who has courted too many controversies. In fact, he has even been jailed for one of his acts. But the man is made up of steel. Sumita Chakraborty, Editor-in-chief, TheGlitz, analyses why Munawar Faruqui deserved to win Bigg Boss 17.

Munawar Faruqui Rising Above Challenges

A man rooted to the soil, his childhood was fraught with poverty and sadness. His mom committed suicide when he was just a small boy. He lived in a chawl in Dongri and studied till the fifth standard. After which, he worked as an office boy, sold utensils and did many odd jobs. But the man with the endearing smile rose above all the hardships and worked hard to make a name for himself as a stand-up comedian.

Reality Show

After winning Lock Upp, people had a lot of expectations from him when he entered Bigg Boss 17. In his own words, Munawar played a different game… one that didn’t have him shouting, screaming, poking, bitching or trying to grab screen time. In fact, for the first five weeks, the makers tried their level best to shake his composure but he stood like the Rock of Gibraltar, playing the game with composure and compassion. But that didn’t appeal to the Bigg Boss makers. Salman Khan, the host, was made to tell him that he was playing a boring game and that they couldn’t see his game.

Game Of Chess

Actually, it became a game of one-man ship between the makers and Munawar. the entire Bigg Boss 17 turned out to be a one-dimensional chess game in which it looked like only Munawar and the makers were playing… the rest of the contestants were just side-kicks. Just when they couldn’t break his composure, the makers found ‘Ayesha Khan’ who spoke out in a podcast about Munawar. She was sent to call him out publicly and accuse him of two-timing. But inside the house, Ayesha decided being in the game and getting into the finale was more important. All bitterness aside, Ayesha and Munawar were seen playing games like Chidiya Udd like two romantic couples. Round One – Munawar!

Dms & Music Videos

But the makers refused to give up. One nomination session got them success on a platter. Ayesha nominated Munawar but when Munawar did the same, she went ballistic. She screamed, shouted and defamed him vociferously. From intimate details, personal tidbits to even calling him out professionally, she played the victim card while the rest of the contestants acted very holier than thou and pointed fingers at him.

For the first time, Munawar’s composure broke down and he was clueless about how to continue in the face of such negativity. He was tarred as a man who played with women. Luckily, he was unaware that his ex-girlfriend Nazila jumped into the fray to grab her 15 minutes of fame -in a live instagram chat, she accused Munawar of cheating. Anjali Arora, his co-contestant in Lock Upp and the one who told him on the show that she loves him, bitched the daylights about him in an interview. But inside the house, surrounded by so much negativity, Munawar was broken and it looked as if in the game of chess the makers played, he had lost.

Double Standards

Co-contestant Isha Malviya who entered the house with her ex-boyfriend Abhishek and was almost getting back to him until her present boyfriend Samarth entered, screamed herself hoarse that Munawar was a bad man and he two-timed women. Ankita Lokhande who said she was a friend of Munawar, said shame on you Munna! The rest of the contestants insisted that there was no clarity in his relationship. The funny thing was that why on earth did they need clarity in Munawar’s personal relationships? Munawar could have argued back that he was single and that the girls too were no saints. But he remained mum, which worked against him.

Game Munawar!

Luckily, the man was down and out for just a couple of weeks and just when everyone felt that the game was slipping out of his fingers. Munawar bounced back. He played Isha so that she would elect Ankita as captain and Samarth would be ousted and escorted “into the tunnel” outside the home. His every move was subtle yet dynamic. In fact, even now, Isha thinks Munawar did not play the game and she couldn’t see his game when she was played by him to oust her own boyfriend. Mannara Chopra too found a mentor in Munawar. Sometimes she would hug him, other times, she would be bitching about him. When asked recently whether she reached the finale by taking the support of Munawar’s shoulders. She said, “Oh, Munawar himself struggled to get to the finale.” Mannara, perhaps, was locked up in Bigg Boss house in a parallel universe.

Munawar, The Winner

Munawar deserved to win because he played with finesse, subtlety and intelligence. Today, his co-contestants insist that Munwar won because of his fan base. Abhishek Kumar, in an interview, insisted that his journey was better. The reason he got so many votes was not because he played well but because a certain fraction wanted Munawar to lose. Two factions were voting – one, who wanted Munawar to win; the other, who voted for others read Abhishek Kumar because they wanted Munawar to lose. But in the end, it was Munawar Faruqui who won the trophy, 50 lakhs and a Hyundai Crete car. Did he deserve to win? Oh Yeah! Definitely!