Kishore Kumar is the voice of India, M.D. Rafi taught me to sing romantic numbers, while Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s live recordings helped me prep for stage shows.
In boxing, I had a lot of fear. Fear was good. But, for the first time, in the bout with Muhammad Ali, I didn’t have any fear. I thought, ‘This is easy. This is what I’ve been waiting for’. No fear at all. No nervousness. And I lost.
The only picture I’ve got in my house – other than family photos, of course – is one of me with Muhammad Ali.
I remember my father playing a cassette for me when I was fifteen – Amjad Ali’s ‘Durga.’ He said, ‘This is from our part of the world. You must listen to it.’ And I continued rewinding it and listening to it from early evening until midnight. By the end of it, I was nearly in tears.
My book ‘Ali Pasha’ tells the true story of a young sailor Henry Friston, who, in the hell-fire of battle, forms an unusual friendship.
Muhammad Ali is my hero. Yes, he was the best boxer in the world, but he also put himself on the line. He talked when black Americans had to be quiet.
‘Ali’ is a breakthrough for its director, Michael Mann. The film, based on the life of Muhammad Ali, is Mr. Mann’s first movie with feeling; his overwhelming love of its subject will turn audiences into exuberant, thrilled fight crowds.
Muhammad Ali inside the ring and Muhammad Ali outside the ring were totally different men; his abrasive, magnetic daring and infectious self-love outside the ring galvanized the world and distracted many from his sniper’s precision. He was a heavyweight with the fluttering gracefulness of a middleweight.
The only thing that me and Muhammad Ali have in common is that we are both Olympic gold medalists and both very outspoken.
Twenty years I’ve been fighting Ali, and I still want to take him apart piece by piece and send him back to Jesus.
I am inspired by the kind of films Raj Kumar Gupta and Imtiaz Ali make.
I never said I was a Tyson, Bowe or Ali. I said I’m Shannon Briggs, the latest, not the ‘greatest.’
I did a film on Muhammad Ali before he was champion. I was there when he became champion in 1964. I was happy to be able to document the development of a real American hero.
My personal favourites include J. J. Cale, R. D. Burman, Mehdi Hassan, and Ghulam Ali.
One of my favourite fighters to watch ever, and of course before I was a ring announcer, was Muhammad Ali.
Laila Ali is not my definition of the best.
My song ‘Afreen Afreen’ which I performed with Rahat Fateh Ali Khan was the most international heard track and it received over 93 million views. So, with every new season Coke Studio is doing a great job.
He sells, he knows how to talk, he’s smart, he’s no fool. McGregor doesn’t fight, he just reacts, he’s never first to throw a punch. He goes in there to tease, not to fight. He’s like Muhammad Ali.
Laila Ali is boxing’s real-life million-dollar baby.
I’d like to make one thing very clear: Muhammad Ali loved people, and he had white friend as well as black friends – and the only thing that he hated was discrimination and racism.
Ali had a break that was an inch and a half long, and you keep getting hit as hard and as much as I hit Ali, the pain would take over and you would pass out.
Look what the Rumble in the Jungle did for Zaire. No one had ever heard of Zaire until then. After Muhammad Ali fought George Foreman for the title, no one forgets it.
Other great fighters like Sugar Ray Leonard and Muhammad Ali have fallen to the canvas. Why not Julio Cesar Chavez?
I love sufi music and that’s the reason why I’m such a big fan of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.
I love laugh lines. It means you’ve had a good life. The most beautiful women – Audrey Hepburn, Lauren Hutton, Ali MacGraw – all embraced the aging process.
These kids at the Ali Forney Center are literally dumped by their families because of the fact that they are lesbian, gay, or transgender – this organization really is saving lives.
Ali even told me in the ring, ‘You can’t beat me – I’m your Lord.’ I just told him, ‘Lord, you’re in the wrong place tonight.’
I am very fond of ghazals. I like ghazals from Jagjit Singh and Sir Ghulam Ali.
Sara Ali Khan and Kiara Advani are very beautiful and attractive.
My books are often shelved around those of Chinua Achebe and Margaret Atwood, or Chimamanda Adichie and Monica Ali. All of this depends, of course, on the bookstore and how conversant the shelf stocker is with the alphabet.
I have worked with producers like Saif Ali Khan and Salman Khan, and there have never been any complaints about my late-comings.
I want to work with Sriram Raghavan, Imtiaz Ali, Karan Johar, and, of course, any other director who is offering a great role to play in a film.
‘Freaky Ali’ may look like an easy role to others, but it is not easy.
Ali reversed the decision in a second fight with Joe Frazier. That’s what would happen if I played Billie Jean again.
I want to be the physical embodiment of light, you know? And I feel like now people know, when they see the lights go off and this light-up figure appear on stage, they know that’s Mustafa Ali.
To me, Muhammad Ali, he was the greatest.
Do you have any idea what Ali meant to black people? He was the leader of a nation, the leader of Black America. As a young black, at times I was ashamed of my color; I was ashamed of my hair. And Ali made me proud.
There were three people I always wanted to meet: Michael Jackson, Muhammad Ali, and Nelson Mandela.
If I get a call from Imtiaz Ali or Zoya Akhtar to star in their films, I won’t think twice.
I like writers who seem to write because they have to. You get the feeling of this burning desire to tell a story. I find it in Peter Carey, Nicola Barker, Ali Smith and David Foster Wallace.
There’s so much pressure on becoming the next Muhammad Ali or Mike Tyson, and if you don’t achieve that in boxing, you’re nothing.
I keep learning from my mistakes and take advice from my seniors Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq because I want to be better and better in Test cricket.
Ali’s got a left, Ali’s got a right – when he knocks you down, you’ll sleep for the night; and when you lie on the floor and the ref counts to ten, hope and pray that you never meet me again.
‘Ali’ is the story of a lower middle-class golfer who becomes a champion. I find the game very interesting and would like to continue playing it regularly after the movie is wrapped up.
I think on balance, Don King has been bad for boxing. I think he’s done some very good things and I think he did a heck of a job of promoting Ali but I think I could have promoted Ali.
We all ended up jumping up and down, hugging each other when Ali won; cause Ali is the greatest.
So I decided to move that scene in the doctor’s office to two-thirds into the movie, after the viewers had come to know Ryan and Ali and share in their happiness.
And I remember leaving my place in L.A. and – my father is a big fight fan – and I said, ‘Dad, I got a couple of days off and I’m getting ready to go to Houston to sign to fight Muhammad Ali.
Many have paid tribute to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan in the past and they will probably continue to do so in the future as well. However, this year marks 20 years since he passed away. This is a special moment for us and his fans.
When I became a choreographer, I was not assisting any choreographer. I was assisting the director Mansoor Ali Khan for ‘Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar.’ I was the fourth assistant director.
When we were getting married the Hindu way in Arrah, we had an old guest who asked my wife what her ‘good name’ was. I think she’d heard that I had married a Muslim. When my wife said, ‘Mona Ahmed Ali,’ the lady looked at me and exclaimed, ‘Oh, so you’ve married a terrorist.’
There’ll never be another Muhammad Ali. He was a superstar. And although he has gone, his legacy will live on for what he has done for sport and humanity.
I watched Ali, studied Ali, and I studied Sugar Ray Robinson. I watched them display showmanship. I watched them use pizzazz, personality, and charisma. I took things from them and borrowed things from them because boxing is entertainment.
I met Muhammad Ali in Toronto when he was still Cassius Clay… We got to talking and it was like we knew each other for 50 years. We just clicked.
I don’t have enough words to praise Fakhar Zaman, Hasan Ali and Shadab Khan.
My dad was a prize fighter in his youth. My boxing skills are very limited. I did train for most of my youth but couldn’t really see the point of getting punched in the head. I’m a lover, not a fighter, but I do enjoy the sport in its purest form. As a child, my heroes were my dad and Muhammad Ali.
Sugar Ray Leonard was as close as anyone came after Ali to being Ali, but he wasn’t Ali.
I decide intuitively what I want to do. When directors like Imtiaz Ali, Ayan Mukerji, Anurag Basu and Anurag Kashyap, who have stories to tell, come to me, why would I not be a part of it?
Ali was a legend of our sport. For me as a kid, he inspired me to represent myself like a champion in and out of the ring.
Shaq and Muhammad Ali’s my favorite two athletes of all time.
Ali and I have become friends over the years. I was on a plane with him one time when he was the champion.
