Ali Quotes

As my grandmother Shamshad Begum was a noted classical singer, who had settled down in London, we used to receive several people from the music, film and literature fraternity at home. People like Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Mehboob Khan, Khwaja Ahmed Abbas, K. Asif etc., used to visit us regularly.

On the sets, Ali Zafar was extremely entertaining… he would just start singing out of the blue. It was just great!

For every moment of triumph, there is an unequal and opposite feeling of despair. Take that iconic photograph of Muhammad Ali standing triumphantly over the prostrate, semiconscious wreckage of Sonny Liston. Great photo. Now think of Liston. Do the pleasure/pain calculus.

My favorite television show of all time is ‘Hill Street Blues.’ I think it’s the show that is to television what Pele was to football or Muhammad Ali was to boxing.

Sara Ali Khan and Kiara Advani are very beautiful and attractive.

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.

I want the next 16-year-old kid who looks like me to know he’s not automatically the bad guy. Hopefully, that kid can look at Mustafa Ali and say, ‘Hey, he’s not the bad guy, and I don’t have to be, either.’

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?

I have an understanding of Queen and the way Freddie Mercury did his harmonies. I know what tablas sound like, because my father played a lot of Ustad Ali Akbar Khan.

One of my favourite fighters to watch ever, and of course before I was a ring announcer, was Muhammad Ali.

I wanna be Mahershala Ali in my next life. He’s the man. He’s a really genuine guy. He’s a really great guy, one of my favorite people on this planet.

I was making a film on Muhammad Ali in 1964, and I went to Miami to film everything around the fight for the world championship with Sonny Liston. I had the good luck of flying down to Miami, and there was one empty seat, and the guy sitting next to this empty seat was Malcolm X.

I grew up in a gym in Miami, the one where Muhammad Ali trained. I had 142 amateur fights and lost three.

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 respect Muhammad Ali… he was the greatest, he was the best.

My idol, Muhammad Ali, got beat when nobody thought he would, and he came back and back to beat Joe Frazier.

I have looked at videos of many great champions like Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Robinson, and Joe Frazier, who each had special qualities. I never say one particular fighter is the best ever because each has a special unique style of fighting.