Monday, September 18, 2017

British-Pakistani Actor Riz Ahmed Makes History by Winning Emmy

Emmy award wins this year by British-Pakistani Rizwan Ahmed and Indian-American Aziz Ansari make the duo the first South Asian men to win the prestigious television academy award . It's the equivalent of Oscars given each year by the Motion Pictures Association of America (MPAA).

Riz Ahmed
Rizwan Ahmed, an actor, rapper and activist also known as Riz MC, won his Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie for HBO’s The Night Of.  The show tackles issues of racism and Islamophobia in the United States.

Riz has seen a meteoric rise starting with films like 'The Reluctant Fundamentalist', ‘Four Lions,’ ‘The Road To Guantanamo’ and more recently the Star Wars Anthology film ‘Rogue One’. In April 2017, Ahmed was featured on the cover of Time magazine as one of its 100 most influential people in the world.

Riz was born in London in 1982 to British Pakistani parents who had migrated from Karachi in 1970s. He is a great grandson of Sir Shah Muhammad Sulaiman, the first British Indian to become the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court during the British Raj. He is a graduate of Oxford University with a degree in PPE (Philosophy, Politics and Economics). He later studied acting at the Central School of Speech and Drama.

“It’s always strange reaping the rewards of a story that’s based on real world suffering,” Riz said in his acceptance speech at the Emmy's award ceremony. “But if this show has shown a light on some of the prejudice in our society, Islamophobia, some of the injustice in our justice system, then maybe that’s something.”

In addition to Riz Ahmed and Aziz Ansari as award winners, the Emmy Awards show also featured Pakistani-American Kumail Nanjiani, the star of "The Big Sick", on the red carpet.

Although Riz has begun “inching towards the Promised Land,” he still gets stopped and searched before boarding a plane every time he flies to the U.S., he wrote. One person’s win does not fix “a systemic issue of inclusion,” Ahmed told the Washington Post backstage after the Emmys. “I think that’s something that happens slowly over time.”

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11 comments:

Mohsin H. said...

He's so darn good! I dont watch shows on TV but my daughter who's currently completing her last year at Georgetown Law, was interested as it's about the judicial system in the country, and she has a vast interest, being a conscentious budding legal professional, with tons of compassion! So, during her last couple of weeks off, I was able to catch a few of the episodes woth her and he was great!

I am so glad that these young men and women of the country of our origin are making waves! Kudos to them.......there's hope!!

On another note, check this out:

Fantastic achievement! The Hult Prize is sponsored, in partnership with Clinton Global Initiative, by Hult Intl Business School, a truly global university with campuses in Shanghai, Dubai, London, New York, Boston and San Francisco, where I teach Finance related courses as an adjunct. In addition, they now own the prestigious Ashridge Exec Education Center in the U.K. where I had the privilege of being a guest speaker earlier this year.
Congrats to the young Pakistani group of students! Proud moment, indeed.

Pakistani-American students win $1 million award for Roshni Rides - The Express Tribune

Vishal said...

He is a really good actor. If you haven't watched the 8-part TV series, I totally recommend it.

Majumdar said...

Brof sb,

This is offtopic but I have disturbing news for you. India has beaten Pakiland in the multidimensional poverty index.

Pakistan's score as per OPHI2017: 0.230, percentage of poor 44%, intensity of poverty 52%
India's score: 0.191, percentage of poor 41%, intensity of poverty 46%

Regards

Anonymous said...

i see that even bangladesh has beaten pak in poverty elimination.

http://www.ophi.org.uk/multidimensional-poverty-index/global-mpi-2017/

Riaz Haq said...

Ravi K; "i see that even bangladesh has beaten pak in poverty elimination"


Bangladesh's income poverty level of 20% is about 3 times Pakistan's 7%.

Still, Bangladesh has done better than India.

http://www.ophi.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/B47_Global_MPI_2017.pdf

Anonymous said...

http://www.dhakatribune.com/feature/2017/08/17/70-years-bangladesh-outperforms-india-pakistan/

Riaz Haq said...

Five Pakistanis Who Have Taken Hollywood by Storm

http://pakistanlink.org/Community/2017/Nov17/03/05.HTM

1) Kumail Nanjiani
From stand-up comedian to actor, Kumail has already got a few designations under his belt.
The Silicon Valley star took it to the next level and carved more than a mark by writing and acting in The Big Sick – a biographical account of his love story with his (now wife) Emily Gordon. He recently appeared on SNL too – and man, what a speech!
If that wasn’t enough, he will be starring alongside professional wrestler John Cena in his next venture. What more could you want?
2) Faran Tahir
Son of veteran Pakistani actor Naeem Tahir, Faran may not be considered a household name yet but he is definitely familiar to millions around the world. You may recognize him as Raza in Iron Man (2008) or Captain Robau in Star Trek (2009).
The international artist has been a Hollywood insider for over 25 years now and has guest starred in many TV series and films. His debut appearance was in Disney’s The Jungle Book in 1994 as Mowgli’s father. You can currently watch him in the hit American TV Series Scandal.

3) Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy
Named as one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine, this charmer needs no introduction. She’s earned a couple of Oscars and six Emmys for her work as an activist and film-maker, shedding light on profound issues surrounding women inequality.
She is all set to add another feather to her cap as she recently announced her next project, Look But With Love – Pakistan’s very own reality film series directed by herself.

4) Sameer Asad Gardezi
You can thank this man for the hysterical one-liners in the Emmy-winning hit series, The Modern Family.
The Pakistani-American screenwriter has worked for many big networks including Universal, Nickelodeon and ABC, and is also the recipient of the Writers Guild award for his exceptional writing skills. Sameer is currently writing for his next project, The Goodwin Games.

5) Dilshad Vadsaria
Troublemaker Rebecca Logan in the much-admired TV show Greek, is played by Pakistani actor Dilshad Vadvaria. The Karachi born star was also part of the regular cast of hit TV series, Revenge. Way to go girl!


Riaz Haq said...

Disney+'s 'Ms. Marvel' Finds Star in Iman Vellani

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/disneys-ms-marvel-finds-star-in-iman-vellani

Marvel Studios has found its Ms. Marvel.

Newcomer Iman Vellani has nabbed the role of the teenage superhero, who will headline her own Disney+ series before appearing on the big screen in Marvel films.

Marvel had been testing actors throughout the summer and had landed on Vellani by late August or early September, sources say. The Canadian actor hails from the Toronto area and a year ago took part in a Toronto International Film Festival committee that helped highlight films that speak to teenagers. She focused on Hala, a film centering on a Pakistani American teen pulled between her family and life in the West — themes that are echoed in the Ms. Marvel comics.

"We want stories from different genders and different countries and different people," Vellani said at the time.

Disney+'s Ms. Marvel centers on New Jersey teenager Kamala Khan, who broke ground in 2014 as Marvel's first Muslim character to star in her own comic book title. Her comics are known for exploring Kamala's identity as a Pakistani American living in a religious family while trying to find her own way.

Ms. Marvel is from head writer Bisha K. Ali and will be directed by Bad Boys for Life filmmakers Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, as well as Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, a two-time Oscar winner in the documentary short category, and Meera Menon, who has directed episodes of The Walking Dead, The Punisher and Titans.

Actor Kumail Nanjiani, who stars in the upcoming Marvel film The Eternals and who was born in Pakistan, welcomed Vellani to the Marvel family Wednesday.

"I just saw they cast Ms. Marvel and legit got teary eyed. Congratulations Iman Vellani! Your work is going to mean so much to so many people, myself included. I can’t wait," Nanjiani wrote on Twitter.

Ms. Marvel is one of a number of shows Marvel Studios has lined up for Disney+, including WandaVision, starring Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany, and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which originally was set to bow this year and recently resumed production. Meanwhile, Tom Hiddleston's Loki was partially completed before the coronavirus shut it down.

Riaz Haq said...

Boris Johnson's #British #Pakistani policy chief Munira Mirza resigns. She quit over PM's false claim that Opposition Leader Keir Starmer failed to prosecute serial sex offender Jimmy Savile when he was director of public prosecutions. #BorisTheLiar https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-60250036

Boris Johnson's top policy aide has quit over the PM's false claim that Sir Keir Starmer failed to prosecute serial sex offender Jimmy Savile when he was director of public prosecutions.

The PM made the remark on Monday as he came under attack over Sue Gray's report on Downing Street parties.

He later backed down, saying said the Labour leader "had nothing to do personally with those decisions".

Another senior aide, Jack Doyle, has also quit as communications director.

Munira Murza said the PM he should have apologised for the misleading remarks.

In her resignation letter, published by The Spectator, she wrote: "You are a better man than many of your detractors will ever understand, which is why it is so desperately sad that you let yourself down by making a scurrilous accusation against the leader of the opposition."

-----------

Mirza's family came to the United Kingdom from Pakistan; her father found work in a factory while her mother was a housewife and taught Urdu part-time. Mirza was born in Oldham, Greater Manchester, North West England and had two older brothers and an older sister. She went to Breeze Hill School until 16, then moved to Oldham Sixth Form College for her A-levels. She was the only pupil in her Sixth Form college to gain a place at Oxford University, studying English Literature at Mansfield College, graduating in 1999. She then completed an MA in Social Research in 2004 and a PhD in Sociology in 2009, both at the University of Kent.

Riaz Haq said...

Ali Ahmed Aslam, 77, Credited With Inventing Chicken Tikka Masala, Dies
A Glasgow restaurateur, he was part of the rise of the British curry house — and played an essential part in its story.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/22/dining/ali-ahmed-aslam-dead.html

Ali Ahmed Aslam, the Glasgow restaurateur who was often credited with the invention of chicken tikka masala, died on Monday. He was 77.

His son Asif Ali said the cause was septic shock and organ failure after a prolonged illness. He did not say where Mr. Aslam died.

Much like Cartesian geometry, chicken tikka masala was most likely not one person’s invention, but rather a case of simultaneous discovery — a delicious inevitability in so many restaurant kitchens, advanced by shifting forces of immigration and tastes in postwar Britain.

Many cooks claimed that they were the ones who served it first, or that they knew a guy who knew the guy who really did. Others insisted it wasn’t a British invention at all but a Punjabi dish. None of those stories seemed to stick.

Instead, the bright tomato-tinted lights of fame shone on one man: Mr. Aslam, who immigrated to Glasgow from a village outside Lahore, Pakistan, when he was 16, and who opened the restaurant Shish Mahal in 1964.

What seems to have established Mr. Aslam as the inventor of the dish was an unsuccessful 2009 bid by the Scottish member of Parliament Mohammad Sarwar to have the European Union recognize chicken tikka masala as a Glaswegian specialty. In an interview with Agence France-Presse, Mr. Aslam explained that he had added some sauce to please a customer once, and you could almost hear him shrug.

In Aslam family lore, it was a local bus driver who popped in for dinner and suggested that plain chicken tikka was too spicy for him, and too dry — and also he wasn’t feeling well, so wasn’t there something sweeter and saucier that he could have instead? Sure, why not. Mr. Aslam, who was known as Mr. Ali, tipped the tandoor-grilled pieces of meat into a pan with a quick tomato sauce and returned them to the table.

“He never really put so much importance on it,” Asif Ali said. “He just told people how he made it.”

Chicken tikka masala became so widespread that in 2001 Robin Cook, the British foreign secretary, delivered a speech praising the dish — and Britain for embracing it.

“Chicken tikka masala is now a true British national dish,” Mr. Cook said, referring to a survey that had placed it above fish and chips in popularity. “Not only because it is the most popular, but because it is a perfect illustration of the way Britain absorbs and adapts external influences.”

Mr. Aslam was born into a family of farmers, in a small village near Lahore. As a teenager, newly arrived to Glasgow in 1959, he took a job with his uncle in the clothing business during the day and cut onions at a local restaurant at night.

Mr. Aslam was ambitious, and he soon opened his own place in the city’s West End. He installed just a few tables and a brilliantly hot well of a tandoor oven, which he learned to man in a sweaty process of trial and error. He brought his parents over from Pakistan; his mother helped to run the kitchen, and his father took care of the front of the house.

In 1969, Mr. Aslam married Kalsoom Akhtar, who came from the same village in Pakistan. In Glasgow they raised five children. In addition to his son Asif, his survivors include his wife; their other children, Shaista Ali-Sattar, Rashaid Ali, Omar Ali and Samiya Ali; his brother Nasim Ahmed; and his sisters Bashiran Bibi and Naziran Tariq Ali.

Chicken tikka masala boomed in the curry houses of 1970s Britain. Soon it was more than just a dish you could order off the menu at every curry house, or buy packaged at the supermarket; it was a powerful political symbol.

Riaz Haq said...

37 year old practicing #Muslim #British #Pakistani Humza Yousaf wins race to replace Nicola Sturgeon as #Scotland's next leader. Humza was born in #Glasgow. His father was born in Mian Channu #Pakistan and his mother was born in #Kenya | Reuters


https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/scotlands-next-leader-be-announced-with-independence-movement-crisis-2023-03-26/

LONDON, March 27 (Reuters) - Scottish nationalists picked Humza Yousaf to be the country's next leader on Monday after a bitterly fought contest that exposed deep divisions in his party over policy and a stalled independence campaign.

The 37-year-old practicing Muslim will succeed Nicola Sturgeon as leader of the governing Scottish National Party (SNP) and, subject to a vote in the Scottish parliament, take over as head of the semi-autonomous government.

Yousaf's victory was confirmed at Edinburgh's Murrayfield rugby ground on Monday afternoon after a six-week campaign where the three candidates spent much of the contest criticising each other's record in a series of personal attacks.

The SNP's unity, which had been one of its strengths, broke down over arguments about how to achieve a second independence referendum and the best way to introduce social reforms such as transgender rights.

Yousaf takes over a party with an overriding objective to end Scotland's three-centuries-long union with England.

But while about four in 10 Scots still support independence, according to a poll this month, the departure of Sturgeon - a charismatic and commanding leader - may slow some of the momentum behind a break up of the United Kingdom.

There is no agreed strategy for how to force a new referendum - one of the reasons Sturgeon resigned.

The often bad-tempered leadership contest has relieved some pressure on British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who is dealing with divisions in his own party, waves of industrial action and high levels of inflation.

FRONTRUNNER
Yousaf won 24,336 of the votes of the SNP's members in the first round, while his main rival Kate Forbes 32, Scotland's finance minister, came second with 20,559 votes. Ash Regan, who quit the government because of her opposition to proposed changes to gender recognition, was third with 5,599 votes.