The actress, Pakistani film director, Shamim Ara passed away in London on Friday at the age of 78 after protracted illness.
The Lollywood actress of 50s and 60s, a famous film producer, was under treatment in London since she suffered a brain haemorrhage in 2010.
The artiste underwent a brain surgery but did not fully recuperate and went into coma.
She was born in British India at Aligarh in 1938. Her father’s name was Syed Ali Ahmad and her maternal grandmother’s name was Iqbal Begum who played a very active role in developing Shamim Ara’s film career in Pakistan after Shamim Ara’s mother’s death at an early age.
The family encouraged her to become a professional dancer in her childhood.
Then her family visited Karachi in 1956 and Shamim Ara ran into a famous Pakistani film director Najam Naqvi there who was looking for new talent for his upcoming new movie Kunwari Bewa (1956) in Karachi.
She was cast for the movie and her film acting career was launched.
She acted in over 80 Pakistani films including super-hits like Saheli (1960), Qaidi (1962), Naila (1965) and Anarkali (1958).
In 1976, she decided to become a film director herself and turned out many super-hit films like Playboy (1978), Miss Istanbul (1996) and Munda Bigra Jaye (1995) among many others.
She directed “Haathi Mere Saathi” (1993). This film was a Nigar Award winner for Best Film of the year and in 4 other categories. It was a “super-hit film” at the box-office.
After Shamim Ara’s husband Sardar Rind died in a fatal car accident on Karachi-Hyderabad Highway, she married film director Fareed Ahmed but this marriage only lasted for a very short time and the couple separated for unknown reasons and got divorced.
Then Shamim Ara married A.Majeed from Agfa Color Film Company and had a son with him named Salman Iqbal.
As of 2016, she was still married to Dabeer-ul-Hasan who is a film story writer and an associate film producer.
She has been an extremely active, talented and a successful film personality of Pakistan. (PhotoNews/Agencies)
