Singer Adnan Sami becomes Indian citizen, says no intolerance

January 1, 2016

New Delhi, Jan 1: There is no intolerance in India, says Pakistan-born singer Adnan Sami after becoming an Indian citizen today.

A smiling Sami also sang his famous song - "Teri oonchi shaan hai maula...Mujhko bhi to lift kara de"- after he received a citizenship certificate from Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju at North Block here in the presence of his wife Roya.

adnanAsked about concerns expressed by actors Aamir Khan and Shah Rukh Khan about alleged growing intolerance in India, the 46-year-old singer said everyone was entitled to his or her own opinion and their remarks were perhaps based on their own experience.

"Had there been intolerance, I would not have taken Indian citizenship. I have never experienced intolerance. There is no intolerance in India," he said.

The singer said he was very happy after becoming Indian citizen and grateful to the government.

"I am grateful to the government of India for giving me this beautiful gift," he said.

Asked how he felt after becoming an Indian citizen, Sami said there was no difference as the taste of 'biryanis' was same in both the countries. "And I have had enough of 'biryanis' in both Pakistan and India," he said.

The singer said there was mixed reaction in Pakistan on his taking Indian citizenship but his family understands his love for India and its people.

Asked about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent visit to Lahore, Sami said he was very happy that Modi had visited Pakistan and was making efforts to improve relations with the country.

"I personally believe in the philosophy of 'love thy neighbour'," he said. Home Ministry officials said Sami has been given Indian citizenship following his request to the Centre to legalise his status in the country on humanitarian grounds.

The singer, who has made India his home for the past few years, had made a representation to the Home Ministry on May 26 this year requesting that he be allowed to stay in India on humanitarian grounds.

Sami had first arrived in India on March 13, 2001 on a visitor's visa with the validity of one year which was issued by the Indian High Commission in Islamabad.

His visa was extended from time to time. His Pakistani passport issued on May 27, 2010 expired on May 26, 2015 and his passport was not renewed by the Pakistan government which led him to approach the Indian government with the request to legalise his stay in India.

Sami's two songs from the album, 'Kabhi To Nazar Milao' and 'Lift Kara De', whose music video starred actor Govinda, were a sensation in the early 2000s.

This year the singer tasted success with his song 'Bhar Do Jholi meri' in Salman Khan-starrer 'Bajrangi Bhaijaan'.

Comments

VOX POPULI
 - 
Friday, 1 Jan 2016

VERY DIPLOMATIC STATEMENT. ABHI IS BANDHA SACH BOLEY THO LAAZIM PHAS JAAYEGA. KABHI KABHI SACH BOLNA BHI BADA PAAP HAI. SACH KA GOLI WAQI KADVA HAI. SATHYA HELDREY EEGA KOLU(BETHTHA) KOTTU PETTU PADEYDANTHEY? SURVIVAL IS THE ONLY GOAL FOR YOU NOW IN INDIA BEING AN INDIAN CITIZEN.
GAATHEY RAHO, AUR JEETYEY RAHO YAAR AUR BE GRATEFUL TO THIS GREAT COUNTRY. JAI HO. LONG LIVE INDIA AND INDIANS.

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Agencies
January 4,2020

Mumbai, Jan 4: After the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur constituted a panel to decide whether legendary poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz's poem 'Hum Dekhenge' is offensive to Hindu sentiments, filmmaker Shoojit Sircar had a cryptic take on the burning controversy.

"Best time for the rich & small businesses to make money as most of the population are engaged with a revolutionary poet named Faiz," Sircar said in a tweet.

The poem, penned down by the iconic poet in 1979, came into limelight again recently during the protests against CAA and NRC in IIT Kanpur.

Earlier on Thursday, senior lyricist Javed Akhtar rejected the claims about the poem being 'anti-Hindu'.

IIT Kanpur on Thursday had set up a committee to look into the issue.

The move came after a complaint that the students who took out a peaceful march in the campus on December 17 against the Citizenship Amendment Act and in solidarity with Jamia Millia Islamia students, sung it as a mark of protest, which hurt the sentiments of other communities.

The CAA grants citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis, Buddhists and Christians who faced religious persecution in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh and came to India on or before December 31, 2014.

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News Network
June 4,2020

Mumbai, Jun 4: Casting director Krish Kapur, who had worked on films like Mahesh Bhatt's Jalebi and Kriti Kharbanda-starrer Veere Ki Wedding, passed away at the age of 28 due to brain hemorrhage, his family said.

There was speculation that Kapur died in a road accident but his maternal uncle, Sunil Bhalla, dismissed the reports, saying that the casting director fainted at his home in suburban Mira Road here and suffered brain hemorrhage.

According to Bhalla, Kapur breathed his last on May 31.

"He had no medical history. He was healthy and doing absolutely fine. On May 31, he just collapsed and started to bleed. He died of brain hemorrhage," Bhalla said on Wednesday.

Kapur is survived by his mother, wife and seven-year-old child.

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News Network
January 27,2020

Los Angeles, Jan 27: Lil Nas X, Lady Gaga, Beyonce and... Michelle Obama?

Yep.

The former first lady can now add Grammy winner to her resume, after snagging the award on music's biggest night for Best Spoken Word Album, for the audiobook of her memoir Becoming.

Her win on Sunday gives the Obama household its third Grammy: former president Barack Obama has already snagged two Grammys in the same category for his books.

She faced an eccentric group of rivals that included Michael Diamond and Adam Horovitz of the Beastie Boys for Beastie Boys Book and John Waters, the director-performer known for his transgressive cult films, for Mr. Know-It-All.

 Released in late 2018, Becoming saw the former first lady slam U.S. president Donald Trump for questioning her husband's citizenship and promoting the notion that he was born abroad.

"The whole [birther] thing was crazy and mean-spirited, of course, its underlying bigotry and xenophobia hardly concealed," Obama wrote.

America's first black first lady also dug into her personal life in her book, expounding on issues including a miscarriage, using in-vitro fertilization to conceive her daughters and marriage counseling.

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