Mahershala Ali becomes first 'Ahmadiyya Muslim' to win Oscar in acting

February 27, 2017

Los Angeles, Feb 27: Mahershala Ali made history by becoming the first Ahmadiyya Muslim to win an acting Oscar as he was honoured with the best supporting actor trophy for his riveting turn as an empathetic drug dealer, who takes a fatherless young boy under his wing in "Moonlight.

Mahershala

Ali, 43, is only in the first third of "Moonlight" but his quiet yet powerful performance as Juan has made his presence felt throughout the Barry Jenkin's directed coming- of-age gay drama, even long after his character departs the story.

He was presented the ceremony's first trophy by last year's best supporting actress winner, Alicia Vikander.

"My grandma would want me to button up. Wow," began the actor amid a standing ovation from the Hollywood audience.

"I want to thank my teachers and professors who told me that it is not about you, it is about characters," he said, thanking his wife Amatus Sami-Karim for being supportive while she was expecting their first child, a daughter born just four days ago.

Other nominees in the category were Indian-British actor Dev Patel ("Lion"), Jeff Bridges ("Hell or High Water"), Lucas Hedges ("Manchester by the Sea" and Michael Shannon ("Nocturnal Animals").

Ali's name was recommended to Jenkins by producer Adele Romanski, who had worked with the actor on the Bay Area-set independent drama "Kicks."

And it was then that Jenkins cast Ali as Juan, a dealer in Miami's Liberty City neighbourhood, who sees in a young gay boy named Chiron a desperate need for guidance and protection.

The movie's signature image is that of Juan holding the boy in the surf as he teaches him to swim

Ali had revealed that he shaped his performance of a drug trafficker on mentors who left a positive impact on him.

The actor has been on a whirlwind awards tour, collecting one trophy after another, including the Screen Actors Guild award for supporting actor.

The actor's exceptionally fruitful year saw his 16-year career skyrocket in 2016 with an Emmy nomination for his fourth season as "House of Cards'" Washington insider Remy Denton, an acclaimed run on Netflix's "Luke Cage" and a role in another Oscar-nominated film "Hidden Figures".

Christian becomes Ahmadiyya Muslim

Ali was born in 1974, in Oakland, CA, and was raised in Cleveland, OH. He is named after Maher-shalal-hash-baz, a biblical prophetic-name child. Raised Christian by his mother, Willicia, an ordained minister, he later converted to Islam in 1999, changing his surname from Gilmore to Ali, and joined the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. His father appeared on Broadway. He attended St. Mary's College of California in Moraga, where he graduated in 1996 with a degree in mass communication. He is married to Amatus Sami-Karim. He named his cat Nas, after the musician. On February 22, 2017, he and his wife welcomed their first child, a daughter named Bari Najma.

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News Network
February 24,2020

New Delhi, Feb 24: Indian Idol 11 winner is Bhatinda's Sunny Hindustani. Sunny, who mostly sang Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's songs on the show, won the coveted trophy. The Bhatinda boy took home the Indian Idol 11 trophy along with the prize money of Rs 25 lakh, a car and a singing contract with T-Series.

Sunny's entry on the show was much-talked-about. His soul-soothing voice had mesmerised the judges on the audition day itself as he sang Afreen Afreen. He got a standing ovation and former Indian Idol 11 judge Anu Malik even said that he felt as if Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan himself was performing on the Indian Idol stage. His audition video had gone viral after Anand Mahindra shared it on social media.

On the finale night, Sunny sang a medley of songs, which included Mere Rashke Qamar and Halka Halka Suroor. Ayushmann got emotional seeing Sunny's journey on screen. He said, "Hum na actor bade self-obsessed hote hain. Humein lagta hai hamari struggle sabse achchi hai, sabse badi hai. Inke saamne toh kuch hai he nahi. Jahaan se aye hai, jitna hunar inke paas hai...mujhe lagta hai inki maa sabse ameer hain."

The first and second runner-up of the show Rohit Raut and Ankona Mukherjee got Rs 5 lakh each, while Ridham Kalyan and Adriz Ghosh who were fourth and fifth on the show, took Rs 3 lakh home. Every finalist also received Rs 1 lakh cheque from Lotus Herbals and gift hampers from the sponsors.

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News Network
April 11,2020

New Delhi, Apr 11: Actor Hema Malini on Saturday expressed concern over the health workers, who are being treated badly and are restricted to enter their own building.

The 71-year-old actor took to Instagram and shared a video where she expressed concern over the situation the health workers are going through. "Friends, I have seen this in various news channels and I am very sad that the health workers are being treated very badly. They are being restricted to enter their own building," she said.

The 'Baghban' actor further said: "Just think, in such times, they are our safeguards amid such situation (coronavirus outbreak). They are the ones who are going to ground level and are finding out the patients suffering from the disease."

She went on to add that "they do so, to save you. Remember, opposing them is to play with the safety of the country and every citizen. That is why we should honour them. Jai Hind."

In the post accompanying the video, she wrote, "Some of you might have watched the following interview on India TV where I have spoken about how I spend a typical day during this lockdown and social distancing period. This is for those of you who might have missed it!"

The post garnered more than 1.3k views within 35 minutes of being posted on the photo-sharing platform.

Just like other celebrities, Hema Malini is also practicing self-isolation amid the 21-day government-imposed lockdown in view of coronavirus outbreak.

India's total cases of coronavirus on Saturday climbed to 7,529 including 242 deaths and 652 people, who have either been cured or discharged, said the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Saturday. 

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January 7,2020

Mumbai, Jan 7: Actor Anil Kapoor, who next will be seen onscreen in Malang, revealed that he always tells superstar Aamir Khan not to stop working with filmmaker Rajkumar Hirani.

Kapoor was interacting with the media at the trailer launch of Malang along with his co-actors Adtiya Roy Kapur, Disha Patani, Elli AvRam, film's director Mohit Suri and producers Luv Ranjan, Bhushan Kumar, Ankur Garg and Jay Shewakraman on Monday in Mumbai.

Anil Kapoor has worked with many directors and producers in his 40-year acting career.

Talking about camp culture in the Hindi film industry and praising makers of Malang, Kapoor said, "I feel we need producers like Ankur (Garg) and Luv (Ranjan). I have told Mohit (Suri) to continue doing films with them. I always tell Aamir Khan by calling him on the phone to say that you should not leave Raju Hirani (Rajkumar Hirani). Whenever I see films of both of them, I tell Aamir not to leave him."

He continued, "I feel whenever you make a good team then you should hold on to it. Team is very important and there are certain stars that come together to make something interesting and exciting."

Kapoor gave an example of Hollywood actors and filmmakers while backing his viewpoint.

"If you see Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro, Leonardo DiCaprio they do so many films together. They can work with others, too, but they keep working with each other. There is some magic, obviously. You have to go with the casting but somewhere I feel teams should stand by each other," the actor added.

Malang stars Aditya Roy Kapur, Disha Patani, Anil Kapoor and Kunal Khemu in lead roles. It is scheduled to release on February 7.

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