Exclusive! Ali Merchant reveals he was going to work with Munawar Faruqui before Lock Upp

When Ali Merchant entered Lock Upp, he first revealed his face to stand-up comedian Munawar Faruqui and said that it would be fun. Ali was dressed up as a guard and Munawar, who had back pain, refused to move and thus, Ali had to take the step. There is a reason behind the gesture – Ali and Munawar go a long way. They were once going to work together, as revealed by Ali in his exclusive interview with OTTplay.

We simply asked Ali who his favourite contestant on the Kangana Ranaut-hosted show is. He was quick to agree with the world and say that it was his ‘friend’ Munawar Faruqui.

When we probed him further about his friendship with Munawar, the actor shared, “I had connected with him long ago. This was before COVID-19 happened. We spoke on call a lot. We then met in a company where we discussed many things. We were supposed to work in the same agency.”

Ali and Munawar even came out in each other’s support often. The former mentioned, “We interacted on the phone for hours at an end. Then we got busy and lost contact. Then, when he released a rap, I had posted a story for him. When I would promote something, he would help me promote that too.”

There is another topic that connects Ali and Munawar. That topic is Dongri. “We also connected because my father is from Dongri. So, we end up using that kind of language and accent for the purpose of fun. ‘Kya mamai, kya bolti public, bantai,’ is how we used to talk. That connected us. We both love to have fun. That is the scene,” Ali shared.

Hinting at how he tried to start a family after Bigg Boss 4 (by marrying Sara Khan on the show), Ali added, “Let’s see. These people are now brothers and sisters in Lock Upp. There’s a whole family-type scenario in the jail. I also tried to do that (laughs) but don’t do it so much. Hadd hai, man.”