Renowned TV anchor, columnist and host of one of the most popular political satire shows on a leading Pakistani news channel, Aftab Iqbal is in town with his entire crew.
The team of popular Express News show Khabardar with Aftab Iqbal will record one episode of the show from Doha today (Sunday), giving a chance to the Pakistani expatriate community here to become a part of the programme to be aired on Express News, the mainstream news channel in Pakistan.
Iqbal scripts and hosts the programme while the format of the show allows him to invite guests who are mostly politicians or people from other backgrounds. The show also features a song and Iqbal is often seen correcting the pronunciation of commonly used Urdu words besides giving facts on popular places in Pakistan.
The group of comedians re-enacts different political and social situations often taking a dig at the local systems and governance failures in a comic way. The Khabardar (Caution) team has already arrived in Doha and is all set to record the show at Sapphire Plaza hotel in the evening today.
Iqbal was received at Hamad International Airport (HIA) by chief organiser of the event Nazakat Ali Khan who is the president of Punjab Music Group (PMG) based in Doha. The show’s team includes Ruby Anam, Hani Albela, Naser Chinoiti, Agha Majid and others.
“The show will be recorded at a stage set in Sapphire Plaza Hotel. People can participate by purchasing tickets. Arrangements have already been made for the recording to go ahead,” the programme chief organizer Nazakat Ali Khan told Community.
The tickets are priced at QR200 and are available at Sapphire Plaza Hotel, which is the main sponsor of the programme and its CEO Shahzad Moghul will be the chief guest at the occasion. Aftab Iqbal’s show has been airing on Express News since September 2015 and gained wide viewership. He hosted a similar programme first at popular TV channel GEO TV called Khabernaak before taking it to Express News.
The title of the show itself is derisively constructed from two Urdu words broken and rearranged. The first part of the Urdu word ‘Khatar-naak’ has been replaced with a rhyming Urdu word ‘Khaber’ (News) to make it Khabernaak.
Son of a renowned poet Zafar Iqbal, Aftab started with a political satire show Hasb-e-haal from Dunya News which features popular comedian and actor Sohail Ahmed.
Iqbal has served as Media Advisor to Chief Minister of Punjab from 1994-5. He writes in his column ‘Buk-Up’ in English daily The News. He has a master’s degree from Government College University Lahore and did his studies in history from San Jose State University, California.
Hosted by Iqbal, Khabarnaak on Geo TV rose to heights of fame featuring Mir Mohammad Ali doing parody of different celebrities and politicians. With the antics of Hakeem Sahab and Agha Majid, the show was an instant hit. Honey and Saleem Albela also started appearing on the show in 2011. They would discuss politics, current affairs and social issues. The first episode of Khabarnaak was aired on September 11, 2010.
The episode’s cast included popular stage artistes like Naseem Vicky, Nasir Chinioti and Badr Khan along with Amanullah Khan (Hakeem Sahab) and Sakhawat Naz (Jeeda driver). Later, Naz and Khan became regular cast members and they were joined by Honey and Saleem Albela in 2011. Iftikhar Thakur joined the show just before the 2013 General Elections.
Agha Majid aka Aroo Grenade (who had earlier appeared on a few episodes), Rubi Anum (Sadiq), Wajid Khan and Farhat Abbas Shah (Master jee) were also added to the regular cast later on. Lucky Dear, Majid Jehangir, Abid Farooq and Akram Udaas also appeared on some shows.
In May 2014, Aftab Iqbal left the show at Geo and started the latest show, Khaberdar with Express News.