Mohammad Ali (; 19 April 1931 – 19 March 2006) was a Pakistani actor. He was known as ''Shahenshah-e-Jazbaat'' (), meaning ''The Emperor of Emotions''.Remembering Mohammad Ali – the legend of Pakistani films
Daily Times (newspaper), 21 March 2018, Retrieved 8 May 2022 A versatile performer, he acted in dramatic, romantic, and historical movies. He was voted among 25 of the greatest actors of Asia in a 2010

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

poll.

Early life

Mohammad Ali was born in Rampur, United Provinces,

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

on 10 November 1938. He was the son of Maulana Syed Murshid Ali, an Islamic scholar. He was the youngest of two brothers and two sisters. After his birth the family migrated from Rampur to

Rohtak Rohtak () is a city and the administrative headquarters of the Rohtak district in the Indian state of Haryana. It lies north-west of New Delhi and south of the state capital Chandigarh on NH 9 (old NH 10). Rohtak forms a part of the Nationa ...

, and from there to

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

, finally settling in

Multan Multan is the List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, fifth-most populous city in the Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab province of Pakistan. Located along the eastern bank of the Chenab River, it is the List of cities in Pakistan by populatio ...

shortly after the

independence of Pakistan The Pakistan Movement was a religiopolitical and social movement that emerged in the early 20th century as part of a campaign that advocated the creation of an Islamic state in parts of what was then British Raj. It was rooted in the two-nation th ...

in 1947. He attended the Millat High School, Multan. He further studied in Government Emerson College, Multan. In 1954, he moved to

to pursue higher studies and obtained a BA from City College, Hyderabad.

Career

Start of career from Radio Pakistan

Muhammad Ali joined

Radio Pakistan The Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation (); also known as ''Radio Pakistan'', serves as the national public broadcaster for radio in Pakistan. Although some local stations predate its founding, it is the oldest existing broadcasting network in P ...

station as a broadcaster in 1956, where his elder brother Irshad was already working as a drama artist. After a while, he moved to the

Bahawalpur Bahawalpur (Urdu: ; ) is a city in Punjab, Pakistan. It is the 13th largest city of Pakistan and List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, 8th most populous city of Punjab. Bahawalpur is the capital of Bahawalpur Division. Founded in ...

radio station and eventually to

Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

where its then Director General Zulfiqar Ali Bukhari became the mentor for his acting career.Mohammad Ali passes away
Dawn (newspaper), Published 20 March 2006, Retrieved 8 May 2022

Film career

Zulfiqar Ali Bukhari, Director General,

introduced him to the film producer Fazal Ahmed Kareem Fazli. So Mohammad Ali started his film career with Fazal Ahmad Karim Fazli's film '' Chiragh Jalta Raha'' (1962). ''Chiragh Jalta Raha'' was premiered by

Fatima Jinnah Fatima Jinnah (31 July 18939 July 1967) was a Pakistani politician, stateswoman, author, and Activism, activist. She was the younger sister of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the List of Pakistan Movement activists, founder and first governor-general of ...

, the sister of Pakistan's founder

Muhammad Ali Jinnah Muhammad Ali Jinnah (born Mahomedali Jinnahbhai; 25 December 187611 September 1948) was a barrister, politician, and the founder of Pakistan. Jinnah served as the leader of the All-India Muslim League from 1913 until the inception of Pa ...

, on 9 March 1962 at Nishat Cinema,

. He then appeared as a villain in director Munawwar Rasheed's film ''Bahadur'', director Iqbal Yusuf's film ''Daal Mein Kala'', and director Javed Hashmi's film ''Dil Ne Tujhay Maan Liya''. His first film as a hero was ''Mr. X.'' But the movie ''Shararat (1963)'' was released earlier than his first film ''Mr. X''. Later, he moved to

Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...

and worked in the movie ''Khandan'' (1964). But his breakthrough came with the film ''Khamosh Raho'' (1964). In 1989, he had an extended cameo in the

Hindi film Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, is primarily produced in Mumbai. The popular term Bollywood is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (former name of Mumbai) and " Hollywood". The industry, producing films in t ...

Clerk A clerk is a white-collar worker who conducts record keeping as well as general office tasks, or a worker who performs similar sales-related tasks in a retail environment. The responsibilities of clerical workers commonly include Records managem ...

''. Mohammad Ali was the lead actor and 'hero' in 94 films. His first lead acting credit was ''Shararat (1963)'' and his last movie as a lead actor was ''Aaj Ki Raat'' (1983). Another movie was ''Mohabbat ho to Aeisi'' (1989) and the last movie of his career was ''Dum Mast Qalander'' (1995).

Playback singers

Ali was most often voiced by

Mehdi Hassan Mehdi Hassan Khan (; 18 July 1927 – 13 June 2012), known as Mehdi Hassan, was a Pakistani ghazal singer and playback singer of great renown. Widely considered one of the greatest and most influential figures in the history of ghazal singing, ...

and

Ahmed Rushdi Ahmed Rushdi (; 24 April 1934 – 11 April 1983) was a versatile Pakistani playback singer and was "an important contributor to the Cinema of Pakistan#The Golden Era (1959–1977), golden age of Pakistani film music". Regarded as one of the gr ...

. Mehdi Hassan sang 115 songs for Ali in his 88 movies. Rushdi sang 100 songs in 57 movies for Ali. Masood Rana sang 34 songs for Ali in his 23 films. Others who provided their voice were

Akhlaq Ahmed Akhlaq Ahmed (; 10 January 1946 – 4 August 1999) was a Pakistani film playback singer and still considered one of the leading voices of the film industry. Early life and career He was born in Delhi in 1946 and started as a stage singer ...

, Ghulam Abbas, Rajab Ali and

Mujeeb Aalam Mujeeb Aalam (2 September 1948 – 2 June 2004) was a Pakistani playback singer who had a short film career. His singing style was a mixture of Mehdi Hassan and Ahmad Rushdi's style. He sang dozens of hit songs in late 1960s. However, he lo ...

Marriage to actress Zeba

Ali met Zeba the first time in 1962 during the filming of their debut film "Chirag Jalta Raha (1962)". The couple got married four years later during the filming of ''Tum mile pyar mila'' on 29 September 1966 and remained married until Ali's death in 2006. They did not have any children together. However, Mohammad Ali legally adopted Samina, Zeba's daughter from her previous marriage, giving her the name Samina Ali.

Political and social activism

Mohammad Ali and his wife Zeba both had close relations with different political regimes in the country. He protested by putting up black dress in International Moscow Film Festival against India for holding 93,000 POWs after the 1971 war. In

Nawaz Sharif Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif (born 25 December 1949) is a Pakistani politician and businessman who served as the 12th Prime Minister of Pakistan, prime minister of Pakistan for three non-consecutive terms, first serving from 1990 to 1993, then ...

's government, he also served as Cultural Minister and introduced new policies to improve the condition of Pakistani film Industry.

Ali-Zaib Foundation

Muhammad Ali along with Shahid Ali Zaidi founded Ali-Zaib Foundation in 1995 to help the Thalassemia patients. The foundation built hospitals in

Sargodha Sargodha (Punjabi language, Punjabi/; ; ) is a city and capital of Sargodha Division, located in Central Punjab, central Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab, Pakistan. It is Pakistan's List of most populous cities in Pakistan, 11th most populous city and ...

Sahiwal Sahiwal ( Punjabi / ; ; ), formerly known as Montgomery, is a city in central Punjab, Pakistan. It is the administrative capital of both Sahiwal District and Sahiwal Division. It is the 19th largest city of Pakistan by population accordin ...

Jhang Jhang ( Punjabi / ; ; ) is the capital city of Jhang District in central Punjab, Pakistan. Situated on the east bank of the Chenab river, it is the 13th most populous city of Pakistan. Etymology The historical name of the city and dis ...

Gujranwala Gujranwala is the List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, fourth most-populous city in the Pakistani province of Punjab. Located in northern-central Punjab's Rachna Doab, it serves as the headquarters of its Gujranwala District, epony ...

, Okara with the Foundation's ''Head Office'' in

Faisalabad Faisalabad, formerly known as Lyallpur, is the List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, second-largest city and primary List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, industrial center of the Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan ...

Retirement from films and his death

After his retirement from films, when Mohammad Ali was asked in a television show about his disassociation from the films, he said: "The atmosphere in which I was accustomed to work for films and the way films are made now, have entirely changed, hence I called it quits." He was very generous and warm towards his fans. One of the best Pashto poets Zahir Shah Zahir has dedicated all his poetry to Mohammad Ali which includes more than ten books. The poet used to visit his house and have long discussions about the social welfare of people and Pakistani society. Mohammad Ali died on 19 March 2006 due to a heart attack in

., on Pak Tribune website

Awards and recognition

He won 10 Nigar awards in his long film career starting from 1964 to 1984. * Nigar Award for Best Supporting Actor in film ''Khamosh Raho'' (1964) * Nigar Award for Best Actor in film '' Kaneez'' (1965) * Nigar Award for Best Actor in film ''Aag Ka Darya'' (1966) * Nigar Award for Best Actor in film ''Saiqa'' (1968) * Nigar Award for Best Actor in film ''Insaan Aur Aadmi'' (1970) * Nigar Award for Best Actor for ''Wehshi'' (1971) * Nigar Award for Best Actor in film ''Aas'' (1973) * Nigar Award for Best Actor for film ''Aaina Aur Soorat'' (1974) * Nigar Award for Best Actor for film ''Haidar Ali'' (1978) * Special Nigar Award in 1984 for films '' Doorian'' and ''Bobby'' *

Pride of Performance The Pride of Performance (), officially known as the Presidential Pride of Performance, is an award bestowed by the Pakistan, Islamic Republic of Pakistan to recognize people with "notable achievements in the field of art, science, literature, sp ...

Award by the

President of Pakistan The president of Pakistan () is the head of state of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. The president is the nominal head of the executive and the supreme commander of the Pakistan Armed Forces.

in 1984 which is the third highest civilian award in Pakistan from former president Zia ul Haq in recognition of his lifelong services to the entertainment industry of

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

. Later, he was also honoured with Tamgha-e-Imtiaz (Medal of Excellence), the second highest civilian award in Pakistan. He received many honours and special awards like the Millennium Legend Star Graduate Award in 2000, Ilyas Rasheedi

Gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...

1998, Nigar Lifetime Achievement Award 1998, Nigar Millennium Award 2000, Lifetime Excellency Award 1997, Pakistan Best Personality Award 1997. He received Bolan Awards, Screen Light Awards, National Academy Awards, Critics Award, Cultural Award from

Punjab University Punjab University may refer to: India * Punjab Agricultural University, a state agricultural university in Ludhiana, Punjab * I. K. Gujral Punjab Technical University, a state university in Kapurthala, Punjab * Maharaja Ranjit Singh Punjab Techn ...

and an Asian Academy Award. He received the first foreign award Al-Nasr Award in

Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

1984. He was also awarded the Naushad Award of

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ali, Mohammad 1931 births 2006 deaths Pakistani male film actors Recipients of Tamgha-e-Imtiaz Recipients of the Pride of Performance Nigar Award winners Muhajir people Male actors from Lahore People from Hyderabad, Sindh People from Hyderabad District, Pakistan Government Emerson College alumni People from Rampur, Uttar Pradesh Male actors in Urdu cinema Male actors in Hindi cinema Pakistani expatriate male actors in India