among his friends and Imran told him to take it to the airways with the television channel once it got aired. A show dealing with political humour around the time of election in the country aptly named Hum Sub Umeed Se Hai (idiomatically translated as We Are All Expecting (Pregnant), but meant to translate as We Are All Hopeful) showed people impersonating the election candidates. Ali did his Benazir act there for the first time on television. After a while with the act, Ali came to realise that the act alone would not shape his career and he had to do more with his talent. It was from this very act that Ali gained the nickname BB or bibi meaning lady in Urdu. Omar Adil, an orthopaedic surgeon by profession, doctor to Madam Noor Jehan, was a close friend of his. With an extensive research into Pakistani cinema under his belt and ties to multiple television channels, the doctor suggested Ali with the idea of having a dragged-up character as a host for a talk show. Thus, Begum Nawazish was born. Late Night with Begum Nawazish Ali Ali cross-dresses as a woman wearing a sari and asks influential guests provocative questions in his show Late Night with Begum Nawazish Ali. He would invite two guests at a time to be interviewed. The name Begum Nawazish Ali was suggested by Dr. Adil talking of his neighbour with the same name, wife to a colonel. Ali could relate strongly to this persona as an alter ego. The facts that the Begum they created lived a wealthy life living off the money of her late armyman husband and was a socialite, bore resemblance to the life Ali himself had lived in his earlier days. The rights to the show were sold to Aaj TV where the show airs every Saturday night. Courting controversy The show has invited the likes of business tycoons, industrialists, actors and actresses, government and religious leaders. Begum would flirt with any one of the male guests "using suggestive banter and sexual innuendo". It's just this use of gestures and acts that Begum has earned a nasty reputation amongst the more fundamentalist ideals of the religious leaders (where some are even amused by his show) but has still ventured into the hearts and minds of the younger generations. While talking of taboo topics like "sex" in Pakistan where it is