Saima Noor is a Pakistani actress who appears in Pakistani films and television dramas. She rose to prominence after starring in the film ''Choorian'' (1998), which is regarded as one of the highest-grossing Pakistani films of all time. Some of her other notable film credits include ''
Buddha Gujjar
''Buddha Gujjar'' is a Pakistani Punjabi film released in 2002.
Cast and crew
*Syed Noor is the film director.
* Yousuf Khan as ''Buddha Gujjar''Majajan
''Majajan'' is a 2006 Pakistani Punjabi drama film directed by Syed Noor which was released across theaters in Pakistan on 24 March 2006. ''Majajan'' is a love story Syed Noor says he "made most passionately". Inspired by the life of Baba Bull ...
'' (2006), and ''
Bhai Log
''Bhai Log'' is a Pakistani Urdu film directed by Syed Faisal Bukhari, produced by Chaudhry Ijaz Kamran, dialogues and screenplay By M. Pervaiz Kaleem. The cast includes Moammar Rana, Shamoon Abbasi, Saima Noor, Nadeem Baig, Javed Sheikh, No ...
'' (2011), all of which were commercial successes. She was one of country's leading film actresses during the 1990s and early 2000s.
Saima's film work spans many genres, including the
supernatural
Supernatural refers to phenomena or entities that are beyond the laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin (above, beyond, or outside of) + (nature) Though the corollary term "nature", has had multiple meanings si ...
film ''
Naag aur Nagin
''Naag aur Nagin'' is a 2005 Pakistani supernatural drama film which was released on 31 December 2005.''Salute'' (2016). She has also established a career in the Pakistani
television industry
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...
and has appeared in various television series, including ''
Rang Laaga
''Rang Laaga'' ( ur, ) is a 2015 Pakistani drama serial that originally aired on ARY Digital from 11 March 2015 to 4 November 2015, airing a total 34 episodes. It was directed by Anjum Shahzad and was written by Sana Fahad. The drama stars Saima ...
'' (2015), ''
Yeh Mera Deewanapan Hai
''Yeh Mera Deewanapan Hai'' is a Pakistani television series aired on A-Plus TV, written by Zanjabeel Asim Shah and produced by Sadia Jabbar. It stars Saima Noor and Junaid Khan in lead roles. The series which is set in Karachi, Pakistan and ...
'' (2015), and ''
Babban Khala Ki Betiyann
''Babban Khala Ki Betiyan'' is a 2018 Pakistani drama serial that premiered on 21 June 2018 on ARY Digital. It is directed by Syed Atif Hussain and written by Mansoor Ahmed Khan. It stars Zaheen Tahira, Qavi Khan, Saima Noor, Sana Fakhar, Javeri ...
'' (2018–2019).
In 2005, she married director
Syed Noor
Syed Noor (Punjabi, ur, ) (born Syed Ghulam Mohyuddin Noor) is a Pakistani film director based in Lahore.
In 1970 Syed Noor joined the Pakistani film industry as an assistant to director S. Suleman. Noor assisted S. Suleman for 18 feature f ...
with whom she has worked on a number of films.
Early life
Saima was born in
Multan
Multan (; ) is a city in Punjab, Pakistan, on the bank of the Chenab River. Multan is Pakistan's seventh largest city as per the 2017 census, and the major cultural, religious and economic centre of southern Punjab.
Multan is one of the ol ...
,
Punjab, Pakistan
Punjab (; , ) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in central-eastern region of the country, Punjab is the second-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the largest province by population. It shares land borders with the ...
. She belongs to a
Pathan
Pashtuns (, , ; ps, پښتانه, ), also known as Pakhtuns or Pathans, are an Iranian ethnic group who are native to the geographic region of Pashtunistan in the present-day countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were historically re ...
family.
Career
Film career
Saima was introduced to the film industry by Nagina Khanum, making her debut in the 1987 film ''Griban''. She then starred in her second film, ''Khatarnaak'', which was directed by Akram Khan. During her early years in film industry, she was mostly paired opposite actor
Sultan Rahi
Sultan Rahi ( ur, ﺳﻠﻄﺎﻥ ﺭﺍﮨﯽ ; June 24, 1938 – January 9, 1996) was a Pakistani actor, producer and screenwriter.
He established himself as one of the leading and most successful actors of Pakistani and Punjabi cinema, and ...
in Punjabi films, but was recognized as a leading actress when filmmaker
Syed Noor
Syed Noor (Punjabi, ur, ) (born Syed Ghulam Mohyuddin Noor) is a Pakistani film director based in Lahore.
In 1970 Syed Noor joined the Pakistani film industry as an assistant to director S. Suleman. Noor assisted S. Suleman for 18 feature f ...
launched her career in Urdu films. Her biggest commercial success came out in 1998 when she starred in the musical-romantic film ''Choorian'' which gathered a total amount of roughly Rs. 200 million and became the highest grossing
Punjabi-language
Punjabi (; ; , ), sometimes spelled Panjabi, is an Indo-Aryan language of the Punjab region of Pakistan and India. It has approximately 113 million native speakers.
Punjabi is the most widely-spoken first language in Pakistan, with 80.5 m ...
film in Pakistan, thus establishing her as a leading actress of Lollywood. She portrayed the second lead role of Tanya in the acclaimed revenge thriller film ''Khilona'' which had
Meera
Meera, better known as Mirabai and venerated as Sant Meerabai, was a 16th-century Hindu mystic poet and devotee of Krishna. She is a celebrated Bhakti saint, particularly in the North Indian Hindu tradition.
Mirabai was born into a Rathore ...
and Saud in leading roles. In 2000, she played the character of a fearless girl in the film ''Jungle Queen'', who is a female
Tarzan
Tarzan (John Clayton II, Viscount Greystoke) is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungle by the Mangani great apes; he later experiences civilization, only to reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adv ...
-type living in the jungle, swings on vines, rides elephants, etc. It was directed by her husband Syed Noor. In 2005, she appeared as a serpent in the supernatural-fantasy film ''
Naag aur Nagin
''Naag aur Nagin'' is a 2005 Pakistani supernatural drama film which was released on 31 December 2005.Bhai Log
''Bhai Log'' is a Pakistani Urdu film directed by Syed Faisal Bukhari, produced by Chaudhry Ijaz Kamran, dialogues and screenplay By M. Pervaiz Kaleem. The cast includes Moammar Rana, Shamoon Abbasi, Saima Noor, Nadeem Baig, Javed Sheikh, No ...
'', which was a moderate box-office success, earning over Rs. 9.7 million in the first three days of its release.
In 2012, she was paired opposite Shaan in the family film ''
Shareeka
''Shareeka'' is a Pakistani film, in Punjabi , which was written and directed by Syed Noor
Syed Noor ( Punjabi, ur, ) (born Syed Ghulam Mohyuddin Noor) is a Pakistani film director based in Lahore.
In 1970 Syed Noor joined the Pakist ...
'', which had a decent opening on the box-office, accumulating over Rs. 3 million alone on the first three days of screening. Saima has also appeared in a biographical drama film called ''Salute'' which was based upon the life of
Aitzaz Hasan
Aitzaz Hasan Bangash (1998/1999 – 6 January 2014) was a student from Pakistan who died on 6 January 2014 while preventing a suicide bomber from entering a school at Hangu village. More than 2,000 students were attending classes at the time of ...
.
In 2022, she worked in the Punjabi film ''
Tere Bajre Di Rakhi
''Tere Bajre Di Rakhi'' is a Pakistani Punjabi-language film written and directed by Syed Noor, with music composed by Zulfiqar Ali. It stars Saima Noor making her comeback in Punjabi Industry after 6 years with Nadeem Baig, Mustafa Qureshi, Ift ...
''.
Television
Apart from films, she has also appeared in a number of television series, including ''
Rang Laaga
''Rang Laaga'' ( ur, ) is a 2015 Pakistani drama serial that originally aired on ARY Digital from 11 March 2015 to 4 November 2015, airing a total 34 episodes. It was directed by Anjum Shahzad and was written by Sana Fahad. The drama stars Saima ...
'', ''Kaneez'', ''Ye Mera Deewanapan Hai,'' and ''Mubarak Ho Beti Hui Hai.'' In 2018, she was signed opposite Sarmad Khoosat in the drama series ''Lamhay''.
Personal life
Despite being romantically linked to
Syed Noor
Syed Noor (Punjabi, ur, ) (born Syed Ghulam Mohyuddin Noor) is a Pakistani film director based in Lahore.
In 1970 Syed Noor joined the Pakistani film industry as an assistant to director S. Suleman. Noor assisted S. Suleman for 18 feature f ...
, it was not officially revealed that whether she had married him or not. In 2007, during a press conference, Saima publicly stated that she married Syed Noor in July 2005, during the making of their mutual film ''
Majajan
''Majajan'' is a 2006 Pakistani Punjabi drama film directed by Syed Noor which was released across theaters in Pakistan on 24 March 2006. ''Majajan'' is a love story Syed Noor says he "made most passionately". Inspired by the life of Baba Bull ...
''.
In 2018, some media publications and online websites reported that Syed Noor had divorced Saima and the two are living separately. However, the couple denied these rumours and released a short clip on social media stating that they are happily married and will never separate.
In the media
Saima was one of the most popular and leading film actresses in Pakistan during the 1990s and early 2000s. In 2017, ''
The Express Tribune
''The Express Tribune'' is a daily English-language newspaper based in Pakistan. It is the flagship publication of the '' Daily Express'' media group. It is Pakistan's only internationally affiliated newspaper in a partnership with the ''Intern ...
'' published an article on the topic of the lack of new heroines in the revival of Lollywood, in which Saima was cited as being lucky for the industry as she belongs to Southern Punjab. Film critic Omair Alavi from ''
The News International
''The News International'', published in broadsheet size, is one of the largest English language newspapers in Pakistan. It is published daily from Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi/Islamabad. An overseas edition is published from London that cater ...
'' praised her acting credibility and wrote that, "You can see why directors have continued to cast her over the years". In 2010,
BBC News
BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadc ...
dubbed her as the "reigning queen of Pakistan's silver screen" and noted that she is "now one of the biggest names in the industry".
After the decline of Pakistani film industry, Saima made her television debut and went on to become one of the highest-paid actresses in television along with actress
Resham
Resham is a Pakistani film and television actress and model.
She made her film debut with ''Jeeva'' in 1995, and was a leading actress of Lollywood during the 1990s. Her notable film credits include ''Jeeva'' (1995), ''Ghunghat'' (1996), ''D ...
who was her contemporary from the 1990s.
Selected filmography
Television
Accolades
See also
*
List of Lollywood actors
Lists of Pakistani actors are split by gender.
* List of Pakistani actresses
* List of Pakistani male actors
This is an alphabetical list of notable Pakistani male film and television actors:
A
* Aagha Ali
* Abdullah Ejaz
* Abdullah Kad ...