KARACHI: THE fans of comedy king and legendary TV Film artiste, Moin Akhtar observed his 8th death anniversary on Monday (April 22) remembering his lifetime services.
Born on December 24, 1950, Moin Akhtar left his fans on April 22, 2011. He was considered as a comedian of extremely high standard in Pakistan with experience of entertaining his audience for a long time. From theater to silver screen, Moin Akhtar’s work introduced nonstop laughter for everyone and became popular among the entertainment loving audience.
He was liked for providing humor for people of all ages, and with a style that remains unmatched. His attempts to avoid vulgarity in his humor rendered him a favorite amongst family audiences. He was fluent in several languages, including English, Bengali, Sindhi, Punjabi, Memon, Pashto, Gujarati and Urdu. He performed not only in Pakistan but played in several stage shows like Bakra Qiston Pe and Buddha Ghar Pe Hai with Umer Sharif in India too.
According to his fans on social media, “Moin’s comedies were not only the characters that brought life in comedy but he was real asset for maintaining the identity of comic life in Pakistani stage and TV,” Moin’s personality and skills are still a source of learning for the new artists and the Pakistani TV, Film and theater industries can hardly produce such comedy maestros,” they said.
The comedies of Moin Akhtar are an inspiration for many young comedians to guide them with proper techniques, skills and styles. “Death of such artiste is unable to make him dead in hearts of people where he will remain alive but the comedy industry and theater will be suffered as it lost main character of the comedy,” said Tauqeer Nasir, eminent actor and the backstage colleague of Moin Akhter while talking to APP.
“Moin Akhtar was an academy of learning comedy that become inspiration for many of today’s comedians,” Tauqeer Nasir said.
He was awarded Pride of Performance in 1996 by the Government of Pakistan and Sitara-i-Imtiaz awarded in 2011.
Moin Akhtar entered the entertainment industry in 1966 when his parody performance as popular actor Muhammad Ali shot him into the limelight. After this there was no stopping Akhtar. His long-standing double act with writer Anwar Maqsood in Loose Talk made him an idol, and when Bushra Ansari joined them the resulting comedy was matchless.
Talking about his father, Sharjeel Akhtar wrote, “It is difficult to do justice to his charismatic, larger-than-life presence with mere words. Moin Akhtar the extroverted performer, was extravagant, exuberant, highly social, and enjoyed the finer things in life. Moin Akhtar the introvert, was humble, silent, preferred solitude, and was deeply satisfied by the simpler things in life.”
His death anniversary saw many of his colleagues celebrate everything he had achieved in life. “If you ask me, there will never be another Moin Akhtar here in Pakistan, he will always be the one and only,” actor Bushra Ansari told The Express Tribune. “No other artist has the capacity or talent to compete with Moin for he was marvelous in every field. He was a true hard worker and a man of his word who dedicated 80% of his life to television. He was a simple, yet beautiful man.”
Ajoka Theatre’s Madiha Gohar echoed Bushra’s sentiments. “Moin was a great actor with great variety in his work. He was a beautiful, humble man despite being so proficient and talented in so many different fields. Not everyone is lucky enough to be like that,” she said.