LAHORE – The 13th death anniversary of famous film star Muhammad Ali will be observed on Tuesday (March 19). He was born in Rampur, India on April 19, 1930, and died on March 19, 2006, in Lahore.
He was known as Shahenshah-e-Jazbaat, means The Emperor of Emotions. He had starred in over 250 movies played heroes and villains. He was included among 25 greatest actors of Asia (all time) by CNN survey (On 4 March 2010). Along with Waheed Murad and Nadeem, he remained one of the leading actors of Pakistan film industry.
Muhammad Ali joined Radio Pakistan Hyderabad station as a broadcaster in 1956, where his elder brother Irshad was already working as a drama artist. Ali’s initial wage was set Rs. 10 per drama. After a while, he moved to Bhawalpur station and finally moved to Radio Pakistan, Karachi.
Zulfiqar Ali Bukhari, director-general Radio Pakistan, became his mentor for acting. Muhammad Ali used to call him his spiritual father. Later, he introduced Ali to his friend, poet and film producer Fazal Ahmed Kareem Fazli, as a hero for his new movie Chiragh jalta raha. But instead of being a hero, Ali accepted the role of villain in the movie.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVn_Sgr-Lsk
Besides Ali, this was also the first film for Zeba, Deeba, Kamal Irani, and the director Fazli. This was the only Pakistani film in which Indian singer Talat Mehmood worked as a singer.
Late actor’s first fa film as hero was Shararat (1963). Later, he moved to Lahore and worked in Khandan (1964). He got breakthrough from Khamosh raho (1964). In 1989, he starred in Hindi film Clerk. His last movie screened in 1995 titled Dum Mast Qalandar.
Mohammad Ali had a total of 277 films (248 Urdu, 17 Punjabi, 8 Pashto, 2 Double version, 1 Hindi and 1 Bengali). He had 28 films as guest appearance and 1 documentary film.
Former president Zia ul Haq conferred Pride of Performance on Mohammad Ali in 1984 in recognition of his life-long services to the entertainment industry of Pakistan. He is among the actors who were awarded by Tamgha-e-Imtiaz. He was also awarded Noshad Award of India.
