Sohail Ahmed

Sohail Ahmed, born as Sohail Akram is a Pakistani comedian, and stage and TV actor. He is most notable for comedy stage dramas based in Lahore. He is famous for using improvised dialogue during stage plays. He is an outspoken opponent of vulgarity and obscenity in stage dramas.[1] He was born in Gujranwala (Satellite Town), went to school at Millat High Gujranwala, graduated from Government College GCGujranwala. His father Mian Muhammad Akram (Late) was a senior Police Officer. He is third in line of four brothers. The oldest brother Javid Akram is a journalist, the other older brother Mian Aurang Zaib Akram is an Educationist like the younger brother Muhammad Junaid Akram. He is the nephew of a great Punjabi Poet known as Baba-e-Punjabi Dr. Fakir Muhammad Fakir. He is also the writer and director of many stage plays.Recently Mr. Suhail Ahmed has proved himself to be an outstanding director when he produced and directed his second Drama Serial SHAAM, which was written by Mr. Iqbal Hasan Khan, a known playwright and short story writer of Pakistan. This play went on air this year in Jan.

Azizi is the persona Sohail Ahmed walks into when he appears on the show Hasb e haal. The character over time has come to symbolize the voice of sanity over the apparent apathy in the society. He mocks the flagrant disregard for law, lack of policy architecture by the government and equally blatant lack of incentive from the civil society to change the squalid they occupy. The popularity of the character is understandable in a society which has lost its relevance and looks at reality through half open conduits. Where scruples are sham and morals mostly a facade to impose upon each other one's perceived dominance: Azizi brings the freshness of being unabashedly pedestrian.

Genesis of the Character:

Sohail Ahmed appears on Hasb e Haal as Azizi, while the rest of the crew Aftab Iqbal and Najia are playing themselves. It's ironic that the only character who is posing to be a fake comes out looking as the most original and prominent voice. It is symptomatic of the collective deficit of trust in the society. Characters like Tyler Perry and Azizi, who are clearly in character - gain credence by the very fact that they are declaring the role-playing part of the appearance - the society is tired of people wearing masks - hiding behind veneers yet seeking to gain trust. When one looks at Azizi and Sohail Ahmed in the context of evolution of media and response of the viewers as they set the agenda by controlling the remote, the closest analogy to Suhail Ahmed following his journey as a stand up stage comedian and gaining respectability as a socially conscious sounding board for the collective wisdom of the people, one can compare his second coming to TV with Bill Cosby of the show bearing the same name. As a phenomenon, he can be compared to Tyler Perry.