Making casteist remarks to recounting sexual harassment incident; times when Bigg Boss 15 challenger Munmun Dutta made headlines

The Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah actress Munmun Dutta’s entry in the Bigg Boss 15 house stunned all. The actress, who is known for her role as Babita ji, has been working in the sitcom for over a decade. And at many times, she made headlines for her professional and personal life. Take a look:

Bigg Boss 15 brought in a major twist by introducing four new faces in the house as special guests and challengers – Surbhi Chandna, Akanksha Puri, Vishal Singh and Munmun Dutta. Munmun’s entry was indeed a surprise one. Fans were super excited to see their Babita ji in BB house.

The actress was booked under SC and ST Act for using casteist slur in a social media video. In one of her vlogs, Munmun was getting ready to shoot for her video and said that she wanted to look good and not like a "bhangi". After an outcry on social media over this comment, Munmun shared that the word used by her has been 'misinterpreted' and was not 'said with the intent to insult, intimidate, humiliate or hurt anyone's feelings'. She also mentioned she was 'misinformed about the meaning of the word'. In the end, she wrote, "I sincerely would like to apologise to every single person who has been unintentionally hurt by the usage of the word." The FIR was filed after a complaint by Rajat Kalsan, convenor of the National Alliance for Dalit Human Rights, on May 11, 2021.

A few months back, dating rumours of Munmun Dutta and Raj Anadkat had spread like wildfire. The good friends, who were often seen together, were reportedly quite close to each other. Sources had told ETimes TV that each and every member of Team 'Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah' was aware of what's going on between the two. "Their respective families too are not in the dark," shared a source in the know. However, both the actors took to social media to deny the rumours.

There were rumours that Munmun Dutta had to quit the show after she was embroiled in a controversy for using the term 'bhangi' in her video. However, after 2-3 months, Munmun resumed the shoot as Babita Ji. In fact, in the wake of this controversy, the production house in question made each and every actor of the show sign an undertaking that he/she will not use any foul language or make a casteist/ religious remark that may hurt any sentiment.

In 2017, when the #MeToo movement caught momentum in India, amongst many actresses who opened up about being a victim of sexual harassment was Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah's Munmun Duttaa. In a long post on her social media account, Munmun had shared her experiences of facing sexual assaults from her neighbourhood uncle, older cousin and teachers while she was growing-up. She openly spoke about being a victim of assault by teachers and men in public places. Munmun concluded the note by sharing how proud she is of herself and unlike her growing up years where she'd be scared. She wrote, "But TODAY I will rip apart any man who even remotely tries anything on me. I AM PROUD OF WHO I AM..."

There were reports that she is going to be a part of Bigg Boss 14, but she refuted all the reports by clarifying on her Instagram at that time, "The news about me appearing in the next season of Bigg Boss is NOT true..I enjoy watching the show but NO I am not going inside the house. Don't believe in fake pages. Thank you."

Munmun Dutta shared a post where she has expressed shocked over people’s behaviour on social media post Sushant Singh Rajput’s demise in 2020. She was hurt to see how netizens had targeted the women who had been a part of Sushant’s lives. She wrote: "I am more surprised (or should I say not surprised) by our human behaviour on social media. The barrage of insensitive, hurtful, and vulgar comments Rhea Chakraborty, Kriti Sanon or Ankita Lokhande have received since yesterday shows how retarded our society is and how toxic people are on social media.”

The actress is an avid traveller and once she was travelling across East Africa. The actress had been preparing for the trek for a long time. But shockingly, the actress had to be brought down from the mountains due to a panic attack. She had written in a post, “I had to be brought down from the mountain due to a severe claustrophobic and panic attack in the pitch darkness…”

Munmun bought a new house and made the announcement during Diwali. The actress posted pictures and also shared that she has designed everything by herself. Munmun wrote, “Starting from ground zero without any help to reaching wherever I am today, I am super proud of myself. My hardwork and sincerity paid off and I am blessed.”