Remembering Moin Akhtar

Its 9 pm at night and my family is waiting anxiously for me to get back home from my tuition’s. Not that they love me a lot,Other than my mom no one ever actually cared if I got back home on time :) but there is a reason why on that particular thursday night everyone was waiting for me.

The reason was simple, only I knew how to record a TV program using a VCR. Wait…. Did I say VCR? Yes I did. Hmmm I guess most of the people here might not remember VCR :) but I am not talking about the current time. I am talking about when I was 9 years old and it was the 90’s.

Back to the recording. I was able to tune TV antenna on VCR and successfully recorded the Drama that was being aired any guesses what drama it was? It was Rozi!

And that was my 1^st introduction to Moin akthar. The Man who transformed acting on Pakistani TV screens.Rozi had put Moin Akhtar to super stardom and if I may say, it was the beginning of my love for him.

And since then I adored him. There was something about him that made you love him, the way he spoke, the mannerism he bought to the TV show. The way he showed respect to his guests. His TV shows with Anwar Maqsood like Studio dhai, studio poonay teen were something that we all waited for the entire week. And to top it all we would wait for his special TV shows and Dramas that used to get aired during Eid.

But for me Moin Akhtar’s best acting surfaced when he wasn’t dressed in just a coat and tie, and when he was dressed differently to play a different role, and then you couldn’t see Moin Akhtar at all. Imagine him as a sarcastic- strong- angry Pathan, and then as a shrewd- Hindu- lady diplomat. Think of him as a helpless- hopeless- Behari gentleman, and then as a self-confident—in his own way—with a peculiar mindset and knowledge, a Memon, or even as a Clown. His best ability was to change his voice, his accent and his style and his gestures. The voice made the greatest difference. He had something of Shakespeare. Had he lived for a thousand years, he would have never run out, or even run short of his roles he could play so successfully.

Its been 4 years since he died (April 22^nd 2011) and you feel the gap that he has left behind. I miss him. Oh yes I do, and the 1^st thing that comes to me when I think about Moin Akhtar is Smile on my face and I guess that’s the kind of legacy he wanted to have. That people will remember him with a smile.

If you haven’t watched his plays do watch them online and relive the magic of Moin Akhtar. Because that’s what he was, a magician who can cast a spell on his fans and transform them to a complete different world just through his acting.