Moin Akhter

Moin Akhter 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. He started his acting career as a child actor at the age of 13. He played the character of Shylock in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice in theatre. 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 performed several roles in television stage shows, later teamed with Anwar Maqsood and Bushra Ansari. He 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. 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 was awarded the Pride of Performance in 1996 and the Sitara-e-Imtiaz in 2011 for his services to the entertainment industry. He died of a heart attack on 22 April 2011 in Karachi. He was widely mourned by the nation and his funeral was attended by thousands of people. He is buried at the P.E.C.H.S Graveyard in Karachi.