Let’s remember the incredible work of Moin Akhtar on his 13th death anniversary

It has been 13 years since the death of acclaimed comedian Moin Akhtar but he still lives in our hearts for spreading giggles and laughter, recognized for his unbeatable sense of humor, brilliant mimicries, and absolute parodies.

Let’s shed light on the late Pride of Performance award-winning humorist’s brief profile, achievements, and remarkable screen work today, on the day of his death anniversary.

Brief about Moin Akhtar:

Popular stage artist Moin Akhtar was born on 24th December 1950 in Karachi. He worked in various media platforms including Radio, film, theatre, and television but the Radia proved a lucky charm to him as he acquired huge fame for the great comedy skills he demonstrated brilliantly at the platform along with legendary co-stars Anwar Maqsood and Bushra Ansari who are also known as ‘gurus’ of comedy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3L_j5ZtSgZY

Akhter was also recognized for his command 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.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PgszkMvm6g

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.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEEddRhWcNo

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.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldHYF3uMgr8

Prominent Screen work:

Rozi, Fifty Fifty, Loose Talk, Eid Train, Yes Sir No Sir, Half Plate, Such Much and many others.

Talk shows

In the talk show Loose Talk, 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.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57ss_3csj_k

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.

Death:

Akhter died on 22 April 2011 at about 4:30 pm in Karachi after enduring a heart attack.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91iS61lOEig

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-m8ifWeNqy4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KetvQrNEUo0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIwlyxl2IWU