Comedian Munawar Faruqui was recently announced as the second contestant of the reality show Lock Upp, to be hosted by Kangana Ranaut and streamed on AltBalaji.
Following the announcement, a number of people on social media called out Munawar for choosing to be part of a show whose host has been called out numerous times for her hate speeches.
Writer and lyricist Hussain Haidry tweeted, "I think this is a tone-deaf, sellout act by Munawar Faruqui To be a guy playing games in jail with Kangana Ranaut as jailor is NOT FUNNY Being at work with a genocidal propagandist beats financial adversity logic Am I to be “entertained” by a muslim imprisoned for no reason?!"
Another tweet read, "Munawaar Farooqui should know that the support he recieved was not because he's some extraordinary comedian. It was because of his resilience and resistance as a Muslim. Once you become a sellout and compromise on that, there's neither support nor respect for you".
Here are some more:
Some, however, argued that with most of Munawar's recent shows being cancelled after threats from right-wing groups, he might have chosen to be a part of Lock Upp because of financial constraints.
Comedian Kunal Kamra even took a dig at bhakts by tweeting, "Munavar & Kangana both on the same show bhakts confused on if they’ve to boycott or not".
A teaser of the show shared by ALTBalaji shows Munawar gearing up for a stand-up act before he is sent to jail for a ‘joke gone wrong’. A voiceover in informs that Munawar will have to play an ‘atyachari khel’ (torturous game) to survive.
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