Faisal Qureshi » Media

Paula Abdul - Deserves to be off of American idol

Faisal Qureshi — Thu, 01 May 2008 10:57:20 +0000

Yep. It’s out. I really don’t think American Idol judging is all that honest. Paula Abdul’s screw up last night proves that she’s not seeing the future, but the future is already seen. She has given two explanations for the mess up, both of which I find hard to believe. What I do believe is that the whole judges’ act is scripted. If it was some sort of honest mistake, she would have come up with a better explanation. However, I loved the way both her colleagues came to her rescue and bailed her out in a hurry. Here’s the video.

Now, why am I glad this has come out? Because I’m totally devastated at the fact that Brooke White has been voted out :-(. How can that happen in an honest competition? I fell in love with Brooke when she sang “You’re so vain“. This is probably the best rendition of the song… yes… even better than Carly Simon’s original. Brooke White has a voice that reminds me of Bonnie Tyler, another woman I always loved for her voice and looks.

I hope Paula Abdul is removed from the show, just so the world knows that Brooke White deserved to stay on, and that the whole competition is a farce. Am I being over-emotional? Probably yes.

VBlog-004 Effects of what we see

Faisal Qureshi — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 13:54:36 +0000

21-April-2008 We don’t realize how every simple element in our environment influences the way we turn out. Especially media.

Ankahi

Faisal Qureshi — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 19:53:04 +0000

The launch show of Ankahi went even better than I had expected, alhamdulillah. Of course Sania Saeed’s presence helped. Professor Sahar Ansari’s kindness and understanding of the subject brought a lot of clarity to the discussion. I was surprised and very pleased with Sania’s command over fine Urdu. I feel privileged to have such accomplished guests on our launch show.

Needless to say, I missed my partners in crime from Loose Ends. Umar is visiting Pakistan right now, and it makes it even worse for me not to have launched Ankahi with him. It was his friendship and supported that started this whole movement. I also missed Tania and Reema a lot. Their presence brought the feeling of reality to Loose Ends.

I’m glad that God has given me this opportunity to go back to doing such topics on TV. May Allah guide me and help me make a difference.

Why did I quit Dawn

Faisal Qureshi — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 19:02:09 +0000

I have received an overwhelming number of queries and complaints about my absence from Breakfast At Dawn. Yes. It is confirmed that I have ended my career at Dawn News for the time being. Why? Long story. But the short of it is that I’m not a media person. I had set out, with my friends Umar, Tania, and my wife Reema, to change the country; to make a difference. In that effort we had started a social awareness (not reform) TV show called Loose Ends. By the grace of God, the TV show got more popular than we had ever imagined, and in spite of great opposition, stayed on air for 44 weeks. Before the TV show was finally “shut down“, it transformed into a Social Awareness Movement by the name of Loose Ends Pakistan.

Shortly after the end of the show, my buddy Umar (who had created Loose Ends) decided to sell shop in Karachi and move to the United Kingdom. His departure sort of broke the chain, and things slowed down.

Dawn TV made me an offer to do their breakfast show, and it seemed like the thing to do. I spent almost a year with Dawn News, working on the breakfast show, and it was the most educational, professional, and enlightening experience. Dawn, no doubt is one of the very best news channels in Pakistan; and the breakfast show gave me 2.5 hours of live transmission, 5 days week. In short, it was an unmatched experience. BUT, it was nothing like Loose Ends, which I had originally set out to do.

My websites, blogs, profiles, have repeatedly quoted:

What man is a man who does not make the world better? (From the Latin Inscription: Nemo vir est qui mundum non reddat meliorem)

When going through life you should always stop to ask whether you’re a taker or a giver. My answer to myself was, I want to be a giver, but I had of late become a taker. Cleaning up my archives, I came across the following clip and I realized that I had lost focus and was drifting away from my calling in life. Thus the sudden departure from Dawn, in the hope that I will be start something like Loose Ends again, very soon.

Right now, I’m in the process of looking for possibilities and opportunities, where I can start a TV show that made the same difference in the lives of Pakistanis as did Loose Ends. So help me God.

An anchor’s nightmare

Faisal Qureshi — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 17:02:42 +0000

Boemerang