Moin Akhter

Moin Akhter (also: "معین اختر" Moin Akhtar), (24 December 1950 – 22 April 2011) was a Pakistani television, film and stage artist, humorist, comedian, impersonator, host, writer, singer, director and producer who rose to fame in the era of Radio Pakistan along with his co-actors Anwar Maqsood and Bushra Ansari. He became an icon through his screen persona "Rozi" and is considered to be a one-of-a-kind parodist and the king of Urdu comedy. His career spanned more than 45 years, from childhood in the Radio Pakistan era to work of great renown on television, film and stage until a year before his death in 2011.

Early life
Akhter was born in Karachi, Pakistan.

His father Muhammad Ibrahim Mehboob, who died at the age of 92, a few months following Akhter's death, was born in Muradabad, in the modern-day state of Uttar Pradesh in India, and, after the 1947 partition, settled in Karachi, where he "passed his life in his own printing press and as a contractor in the garments business."

Akhter was fluent in several languages, including English, Bengali, Sindhi, Punjabi, Memoni, Pashto, Gujarati and Urdu.

Early career
Akhter started his acting career as child actor at the age of 13. He played the character of Shylock in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice in theatre.

Akhter's sense of humour was highly dynamic and versatile. He made his television debut on 6 September 1966, in a variety show on Pakistan Television (PTV) to celebrate the first Defence Day of Pakistan. He started as a comedian in 1966 by impersonating the Hollywood actor Anthony Quinn and mimicked one of the former USA's president John F Kennedy’s speeches. He has performed several roles in television stage shows, later teamed with Anwar Maqsood and Bushra Ansari.

Rozi
Akhter rose to the national spotlight and gathered critical acclaim for his performance in the drama Rozi (1990) in which he played the role of a female TV artist. Rozi was an Urdu adaptation of the Hollywood movie Tootsie starring Dustin Hoffman. He called it one of his favourite on-screen characters that he had played. Rozi was written by Imran Saleem and directed by Saira Kazmi.

Talk shows
In the talk-show Loose Talk, which began in 2002 on ARY Digital, he appeared as a different character in each episode with a total of over 400 episodes interviewed by the TV host Anwar Maqsood, who was also the writer of the programme. Akhter also briefly hosted the game show Kya Aap Banaingay Crorepati?, the Pakistani version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?. He hosted shows involving major personalities and performed on stage alongside Indian legends including Dilip Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar and Madhuri Dixit.

Television drama serials
Akhter acted in several films, sitcoms and dramas, and hosted many TV talk shows, including:

Host
He hosted shows with invited dignitaries including King Husain of Jordan, Prime Minister of Gambia Dawoodi Al-Joza, Presidents Zia-ul-Haq, Ghulam Ishaq Khan, General Yahya Khan and Pervez Musharraf (Akhter mimicked the president in his presence), Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and the legendary Indian film actor Dilip Kumar.

Songs and albums

 * Album – Tera Dil Bhi Yun Hi Tadpe
 * "Chhorr Ke Jaane Wale"
 * "Choat Jigar Pe Khai Hai"
 * "Ro-Ro Ke De Raha Hai"
 * "Tera Dil Bhi Yun Hi Tadpe"
 * "Dard Hi Sirf Dil Ko Mila"
 * "Dil Ro Raha Hai"
 * "Hoten Hai Bewafa"

Death and legacy
Akhter died on 22 April 2011 at about 4:30 pm in Karachi after suffering a heart attack. He was survived by his wife, three daughters and two sons. Funeral prayers for Akhter were offered in Tauheed Masjid near his residence. Thousands of people attended the funeral prayer which was led by Junaid Jamshed. Many Bollywood actors paid tribute to Akhter including Johnny Lever, Javed Akhtar, Javed Jaffrey and Shatrughan Sinha.

The world-famous wax museum Madame Tussauds has expressed a wish to include a waxwork of Moin Akhter in its London museum. If the statue is eventually made, it will be the first of its kind for any Pakistani entertainer.

Awards and nominations

 * Honorary Citizenship of Dallas in 1996 for his achievements.
 * Special Award for Comedy in The 1st Indus Drama Awards 2005
 * Pride of Performance, awarded in 1996 by the Government of Pakistan
 * In 2000 he won Best Actor Award at PTV Awards
 * Sitara-i-Imtiaz, awarded in 2011