In the nearly inexhaustible catalog of D.C.-based mission-driven organizations, AsylumWorks is a great entry in helping asylum seekers and other “newcomers” in the D.C. metropolitan area and beyond.
Their LGBTQ component, PRISM (Pride Refugee and Immigrant Support Meetup), grew out of similar work being done by the following groups: DC LGBTQ+ Community CenterCenter Global. and on top of that PRISM Facebook page is a photo from the 2022 Capital Pride Parade. There are plenty of beaming faces, including Ali Saleem front and center.
Front and center is perfect for Saleem. He’s not just in the spotlight; No doubt he was born in Pakistan 45 years ago for this purpose. There, Saleem reached the heights of the brightest celebrity through a journey that started from his mother’s closet.
“I was completely in awe of all the gorgeous women, all the divas,” says Saleem, going back to his childhood. “There were a lot of Indian films, so-called ‘Bollywood’…. And I fell in love with Benazir [Bhutto] When I was 9 years old, she became the first Prime Minister of Pakistan. This beautiful woman has perfect skin and wears red lipstick. dupatta On her head, very elegant and very graceful. I also wanted to be like these divas. ”
Young Ali did just that, diving into his mother’s wardrobe and cosmetics when his army officer father and government employee mother went out for the night. Sometimes, when his parents arrived home, he enjoyed the change. In some families this may have caused severe punishment. Saleem says his parents never gave him anything more than a mild reprimand.
As Saleem’s schooling progressed and he became drawn to the theatrical arts, opportunities to perform arose. Eventually, he even got the chance to remake himself into his favorite diva, the aforementioned Prime Minister Bhutto.
“I stood on stage like this Benazir BhuttoBut I wore a burqa,” Saleem recalls of performing with a sketch comedy troupe early in his career. “The then Prime Minister of Pakistan, Shaukat Aziz, was sitting in the audience. These were very expensive tickets, a very elite audience, a ‘so-and-so’ of Pakistan’s political community and celebrities.
“When I finished the opening dialogue, there was a pin-drop silence, and then there was just an uproar! People were falling off their chairs laughing so hard. There was this cheering. I thought that what I wanted to do in life was to be an entertainer.”
In a sense, that’s what Saleem did, with Benazir Bhutto as his muse. He continued this imitation and homage for some time as his star status in Pakistan’s high society continued to rise. He even communicated his Bhutto-ness to a national television audience while ostensibly embracing an androgynous style for themselves.
If Bhutto had been Pakistan’s prime minister twice, Saleem would have been his queen — “I was definitely the queen of Karachi, honey!” — as Begum Nawazish Ali, a brand new persona. .
According to Saleem, it was in 2004 that a friend in the film industry encouraged Bhutto to break out of the box. “‘You need to be yourself. I see a diva in you!'” Saleem remembers being guided. “That conversation was very powerful for me.”
A friend assigned a new persona. “Begum” is an amorphous word in Urdu that may mean “princess,” “lady,” or, in Saleem’s case, a wife of high social status. “Nawazish” comes from a popular song and was used to express gratitude. And Ali is pure Saleem.
Saleem, who works as an associate producer for a Pakistani television station, created a proposal for a talk show to be hosted by this new person. Although there was immediate interest from colleagues, Saleem said his project stalled until the newly formed competitive network got wind of it. Saleem’s Late Night with Begum Nawazish Ali Released on August 13, 2005.
“Oh my god, I couldn’t believe it,” Saleem says, his voice shaking a little. “I get emotional just talking about it. It was as if God and the entire universe had suddenly answered my prayers….My first episode, I was able to get Makhdoom Amin Fahimserved as acting chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party. and ReamerWho was the No. 1 movie actress? It was the most talked about show in Pakistan. ”
Shah YasirA Pakistani screenwriter living in the Washington, D.C., area watches Saleem’s celebrity blossom and shares his sense of what Pakistan was like at the time.
“I remember being in high school in Karachi when I first heard about a boy impersonating former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto,” Shah said. “I even got to see them perform an impromptu impersonation at a friend’s party just before I left for college in America. Later, I watched a talk show where they imitated women on Pakistani TV. I saw him quickly rise to fame as a host.
“Begum Nawazish Ali “Drag Queen” was a huge hit with countless families who not only embrace drag queens, but worship them. I think it’s also worth noting that in America in 2024, drag queens reading fairy tale books is still a bitter and controversial topic. At that time, drag queen talk shows were not only accepted in Pakistan, but actually became a huge hit among millions of households. Early 2000s. ”
Just as the United States has taken a conservative turn in a sense, so has Pakistan. Saleem says that while audiences from all walks of life are enthusiastic, the trip to India is also attracting interest from behind the scenes in the government. Saleem says government agencies have not been particularly cooperative with requests. Saleem said the request went as far as arranging contact between a famous female acquaintance and a government official.
He had other professional projects in the works, but his show was canceled. He then launched another talk show, simply as himself. Ali Saleem’s Late Late Showbut that too is over. At the same time, he says, a hostile mood toward his entertainment brand was growing.
“There will always be right-wingers, self-righteous people, who don’t like you for who you are,” Saleem says frankly. “As my fan base grew, so did the number of people who opposed what I represented. I was becoming a bigger and bigger threat to them. ‘Is this the symbol of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan?’ Will this set an example for our sons? This has to stop. ”
Saleem said he was so focused on work and partying that he was oblivious to the deteriorating political environment. Before his close friend Sheikh Amir Hassan was murdered in 2008, Hassan would come to Saleem’s house for parties and return home early in the morning. Later that morning, Saleem received word that Hassan had been shot at his home. Hassan’s murder was sensationalized, with various media outlets blaming the victim, and Saleem’s own lifestyle gaining legitimacy in the press.
As the atmosphere continued to change, Saleem said he was later informed by authorities that a Taliban official had been arrested for using a suicide device. The assassination of his beloved Benazir Bhutto by a suicide bomber in 2007 was not forgotten by Saleem either.
“During interrogation, he revealed the names of celebrities that the Taliban were planning to target,” Saleem says. “My name was at the top of the list, number one, of course.”
The heyday is over. The curtain fell. Saleem no longer felt safe. He fled with close friends in the Washington, D.C., area. Since 2019, Washington has been his safe haven. Thanks to his connections, he happily serves drinks at a popular gay bar in the Dupont District. Rally’s Lounge. His mother recently visited from Pakistan. For the first time since his mother came to the United States, Saleem is building a community with PRISM and others, including Kamala Harris, a non-voting resident but volunteering for the presidential campaign.
Although the party in Pakistan is over, Saleem still seems very happy with the new life he has built. Indeed, Saleem stands out as one of the many locals who brought a valuable piece of the LGBTQ world to Washington. Among the South Asian diaspora in the region, Begum Nawazish Ali occasionally makes it clear that she is not retiring and performs at private gatherings. She also hints that she might raise prize money for WorldPride.
“I want to march as a Begum, that’s my plan,” Saleem says, looking forward to the queer world coming to D.C. en masse. “We are international. That is why there is a rainbow. Despite all our racial differences, cultural differences, nationalities, we come together as one people. Because we Because we all want this world to be more accepting, more tolerant, more loving, more forgiving.”
This profile is part of an exclusive metro weekly A series for WorldPride 2025 highlighting the global reach of DC-based organizations, activists, artists, and more.
Source: Metro Weekly – www.metroweekly.com
