Throwback when Bharti Singh broke down in tears recalling her childhood spent in extreme poverty, says 'Their stale food would become our fresh food and that would make our day'

Bharti Singh, a popular comedian, speaks about seeing and experiencing terrible poverty firsthand. In a digital media podcast presented by actress Neena Gupta, Bharti Singh discussed how she and her family grew up in terrible poverty. She also discussed how unexpected encounters with Kapil Sharma and Sudesh Lehri altered her life's destiny.

Bharti opened up about breaking the barriers of comedy, she shared, "There were comediennes before me too but people didn’t let them come forward. People would shut them down saying, ‘Where’s your dupatta? Go inside.' If we had to sit inside and hide ourselves, why did you give birth to us? These things used to happen a lot before but now the scenario has changed."

Bharti shared witnessing extreme poverty during her childhood, "I can’t tell you what poverty I have seen. If I used to see people throwing half eaten apple, I would think that the person would get cursed for wasting food. I would even think of picking it up and slicing it in a way so that I could eat it."

The comedienne broke down in tears sharing about her childhood, "There was so much hunger and poverty. I used to get depressed during festivals. We would do Lakshmi puja after my mom would get the sweet box from work. I would go and stand near other kids bursting crackers so that others would think I burst them. When my mom would work at people’s homes, I used to sit near the door. She would clean toilets. While leaving, they would give her leftover food. Their stale food would become our fresh food. And that would make our day. Today I tell my mom, that whatever I have done, and earned is only because of you. The amount of love I have for my 10-month-old son, I love my mother much more than that."See more : Bharti Singh and Haarsh Limbachiyaa announce second pregnancy; share a cute pic

Bharti recalls meeting Sudesh Lehri during her college days, "I love Kapil Sharma and Sudesh Lehri. Whenever I would say anything, people would love. In college, I was making students laugh in the garden. Sudesh Lehri spotted me and left. He told the teacher, ‘There is a fat girl making the students laugh. Call her.’ That was my first national youth festival, for which we went to Andhra Pradesh. Our group of five girls from the skit won gold medals."See More: Bharti Singh and Haarsh Limbachiyaa announce second pregnancy; share a cute pic​

Bharti revealed how she focused on poverty in her comic sketches, "My focus has always been poverty. I was two years old when my father passed away. My brothers and sisters left their jobs. They used to work in a factory. They used to carry heavy blankets, blankets which we could have never used. They would stitch them night after night. Sometimes my mother would stitch dupattas. I still hate the smell of those blankets and the sound of the machine. I have seen enough poverty with my family and I don’t want to see it anymore. If you do a background check, you will find most of the comedians have a poor background. You won't do comedy in the rich."

She further shared about cracking jokes on herself before others did, "When I went on stage and started making ‘fat’ jokes, people started laughing. But I don’t know if the generation has changed or people have changed, people don’t call me fat anymore. They call me ‘cute’ and ‘bubbly’. It’s been 15 years in the industry, I still get scared before getting on the stage. But once I get on the stage, in 5 seconds, I forget everything."