Syed Shafaat Ali, a new face going viral on Pakistan's social media, has made himself well-known (on Facebook, at least) with his hilarious impersonations of politicians and celebrities.
Born in Peshawar but currently residing in Lahore, Shafaat has been in the media industry for quite some time, with popular program like GEO TV's BNN (Banana News Network) under his belt.
"My career kick-started in November 2006 when I became a part of the Four Man Show," says Ali. "We had a segment on the show in which we would prank call people pretending to be famous personalities. At times I would impersonate Pervez Musharraf, sometimes Shaukat Aziz. Before this I had never really done impersonations and had never thought I'd be doing something like this."
However, his claim to fame is a video posted on Twitter which immediately got everyone's attention.
Another brilliant performance by my friend @shafaat__ ! Three in one! #Imran #Shahbaz #Bilawal pic.twitter.com/uiAUuqL3sJ— Faizan Lakhani (@faizanlakhani) November 7, 2016
However, the rising comedian is now facing major threats for his hilarious mimicry videos. A report by Express news reveals that Ali has received serious threats and warnings for his sarcastic stunts on famous politicians of Pakistan!
While his videos make the whole of nation roll with laughter, it seems like somebody is not happy with Shafaat Ali’s growing fame.
"I haven't received one but countless threats [for my impersonations]. Just recently I received a tweet from Senator Saeed Ghani, an affiliate of Pakistan People's Party, asking me to steer clear of Bhutto impersonations, and that upset me because people here still don't understand comedy. We belong to the entertainment industry and I don't know why politicians take it so seriously," says Shafaat.
@shafaat__ enjoyd ur perody evn of my own leadr bt pl dont insult ZAB, SMBB, BBZ or evn any1 else. My request pl keep urslf non controvrsial— Senator Saeed Ghani (@SaeedGhani1) November 30, 2016
Despite the sudden popularity Shafaat has mixed feelings about his viral video.
"When this video became viral, I was a little upset because I've been in the entertainment industry for a long time, but when numerous social media pages shared my video, people commented asking, 'Who is he?'. To which many responded with fake information like, 'I know this guy, he was in my school' and other such ridiculous things. That's when I realised that social media has now become way more powerful than television," he says.
And also checkout Shafaat Ali's hilarious old videos dressed as famous politicians:
And this is only the beginning of Shafaat Ali's career. He hopes to become the a great stand-up comedian and bring Pakistan's stand-up comedy to an international platform. He pointed out that currently, besides Saad Haroon, there are no known stand-up comedians representing Pakistan internationally.
"I respect everyone, they're all doing a good job." he says. "Personally, I want to string together stand-up comedy and impersonations because I feel it's a good fusion."
His international icon is American comedian Jimmy Fallon, whose comedic style he admires, and from the local pool he admires comedian Mir Mohammad Ali.
