Mohammad Ali

Mohammad Ali (April 19, 1931/March 19, 2006) was a most versatile actor of Pakistan. He was known as doing historical, biographical, patriotic roles, costume and art movies. He had starred in over 250 movies playing roles as hero and villain. 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. He was known as Shahenshah-e-Jazbaat, meaning The Emperor of Emotions.

He made his debut in Charagh Jalta Raha (1962), He received Silver Screen Award for his performance in the film, In 60s he worked in all kind of movies like Khamosh Raho (1964), won Nigar award for Best supporting actor,then he starred in action costume movie like Hazar Dastan (1965) and Emotional drama Kaneez (1965) and Won Nigar award for best actor, In (1966) A romantic movie Lori Action movie Aag Ka Dariya he Won Nigar award for Best acting movie was critically and commercially successful, he produced movie Aadil In the same year 1966 he did Historical movie Jaag utha Insan, Aag (1967), Saiqa and Mehal (1968).

He worked in Successful movies like Insan Aur Aadmi (1970) Won Nigar Award for Best actor, Wehshi (1971) another Supper Performance Won Nigar award for best actor, Afsana zindagi ka and Mere humsafar (1972), Aas (1973), Year 1974 Proved Most Successful year Super Hits like Tum Salamat Raho, Aina Aur Soorat Won Nigar award for best actor, Phool mere gulshan ka and Shamma, In (1975) Mohabbat Zindagi Hai, and popular movies Naukar, Soorat Aur Seerat and Bin Badal Barsat, In (1976) An-data, In (1977) Classical movie Salakhen and Comedy Bhrosa, In (1978) Historical Movie Hiader ali, and Character role movie Amber, Intekhab, Millan and Awaz (1978 film), In (1979) Josh an action movie, romantic drama Chori chori and Aap se kya parda.

He worked in Successful movies like Zameer (1980), Bada aadmi, Manzil, Sangram, Kiran aur kali (1981), Naseeb, Meherbani (1982), Tina and Ek doojy ke liye (1983), In (1984) two Most special and Hit movies like Dooriyan and Bobi he Won Nigar awrads Best performance for both movies, In (1985) Khoon Aur Pani and Direct hawaldar, In (1986) White gold and Qatil ki Talash, In (1989) movie Shaani , Working in all kind of genres Mohammad Ali became the Most Popular and Versatile actor of Pakistani Film Industry.

Mohammad Ali was born into a religious family in Rampur, British India on April 19, 1931. His father, Maulana Syed Murshid Ali was an Islamic scholar. He was the youngest of two brothers and two sisters. The family moved from Rampur to Rohtak after his birth, and then migrated to Hyderabad and then to Multan soon after the independence of Pakistan. He passed matriculation from Millat High School. In 1954 he moved back to Hyderabad. He continued his study in this city and passed B.A. from City College, Hyderabad.

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 mention him as his spiritual father. Later, he introduced Ali to his friend, poet and film producer Fazal Ahmed Kareem Fazli, who offered him the role of a hero for his new movie Chiragh jalta raha. But instead of playing the role of hero, Ali accepted the role of villain in the movie. 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 rendered his services as a singer.

Chiragh Jalta Raha was premiered by Fatima Jinnah on March 9, 1962 at Nishat Cinema, Karachi. He then appeared as 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 hero was Mr.X but Movie Shararat was released before in (1963). Later, he moved to Lahore and worked in movie Khandan (1964). He got breakthrough from Khamosh Raho (1964). In 1989, he had an Extended Cameo in Hindi film Clerk.

Mohammad ali's 1st colour movie was Jan Pehchan in 1967. his debut guest Appearance Movie was Baji in 1963, 1st double role movie was khandan in 1964, His debut Character role movie Ghaddar in 1965, Mohammad ali's 1st Silver Jubilee movie was Charagh Jalta Raha 1962, His 1st Golden Jubilee movie was Kaneez 1965, His 1st Platinum Jubilee movie was Dil Aur Duniyan 1971 and His 1st Diamond Jubilee movie was Bobi 1984.

Mohammad Ali's debut foreign released movie was Mr.X (1963) which was dubed in Farsi Language and released in Iran.

Pakistani movie Tiger Gang (1974) Starring Mohammad Ali was Co-produced by Germany. His debut foreign shot movie Mere Humsafar was shot in London (1972).

Mohammad Ali's debut Punjabi movie was Sher Di Bachi (1964). His Movie Insan aur Aadmi was screened in China, When General Zia ul Haq visited China. Makers of the movie Shirin Farhad did a voting for Farhad role Mohammad ali got 30 votes, Waheed Murad 16, Shahid 14, Habeeb 14, Nadeem 13 and Role went to Mohammad Ali as he got more votes for Farhad role. He was seen in Pakistan's debut Scientific movie named Shaani which was released in (1989), It was his last Successful movie.

Mohammad ali was solo hero in 94 films his first solo hero movie was Shararat and his last movie as Solo hero was Aaj Ki Raat (1983) his last leading actor movie was Mohabbat ho to aisi (1989)and his last movie of his career was titled Dum Mast Qalander (1995).

Mohammad ali had a record of 13 back to back Hits and Super hit movies in (1974–75). His own favorite movies were: Khamosh raho, Aag ka Dariya, Insaan aur Aadmi, Wehshi and Haider Ali. He produced two films Aag (1967) and Jaise jantey nahin (1969) as Ali-Zeb Productions, and he co-produced two film Aadil (1966) and Hatim Tai (1967). He was most often voiced by Mehdi hassan he sang 115 songs for Mohammad ali in his 88 movies, Ahmed Rushdi sang 88 songs in 57 movies of Mohammad ali, Masood Rana sang 34 songs for mohammad ali in his 23 films and Others who provided his voice were: Akhlaq Ahmed, Ghulam Abbas, Rajab Ali and Mujeeb Aalam.

Mohammad Ali and his wife Zeba (Ali-Zeb) was an Ideal Couple of Pakistani film industry, they worked in 70 movies together in 59 movies Zeba was Heroine of his husband Mohammad Ali. He was 1st actor his Fans Created Fan-club titled the Sweet and Great Mohammad Ali Federation at Ghotki Sindh in (1967) and the Chairman was Mohammad Akram. Despite retirement from movies Federation published a book Named Millenium Star Mohammad Ali of his 34 years Contribution with Pakistani Film Industry.

Mohammad Ali had total 268 films (251 Urdu, 15 Punjabi, 08 Pushto, 02 Double version, 01 Hindi and 01 Bengali). He had 28 films as guest appearance and 01 documentary film Named Allah o Akber, He had 128 Silver Jubilee Movies, 54 Golden Jubilee Movies, 08 Platinum Jubilee Movies and 01 Diamond Jubilee Opening of Mohammad ali movies:76 average, 44 Bumper, 38 Excellent and 25 Poor to Good and 85 Poor to Flop. Ali Bhai had 91 Black&White movies and 177 Coloured Movies, He worked with 111 Directors In his career.

On the set of Tum mile pyar mila, Mohammad Ali met actress Zeba, and later both married while the film was still under production. The marriage was held on September 29, 1966. The couple reached studio just after the marriage ceremony where they had only one shot before they threw a party. The next day, newspapers published the news of marriage of Mohammad Ali and Zeba.

Ali-Zeb, as the couple came to be popularly known, did not have any children together. However, Mohammad Ali legally adopted Samina, Zeba's daughter from a previous marriage, giving her the name Samina Ali.

Mohammad Ali had close relations with different political regimes in the country, and both husband and wife, carried out number of social works under their patronage. He protested by putting up black dress in International Moscow Film Festival against India for holding 93,000 POWs after 1971 war. He also served as Cultural Minister in Nawaz Sharif government and set up new policies for Film Industry.

When Shah Faisal and Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said, came to Pakistan, they lived at Mohammad ali's Ali-Zeb house as a special guests. Other personalities came to his house included: Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, Zia-ul-Haq, Dilip Kumar, Nawaz Sharif, Z.A. Bukhari, Josh Maleeh Aabadi and Faiz Ahmad Faiz.

Muhammad Ali and Zeba founded Ali-Zeb Foundation in 1990s to help the terminally ill, especially those suffering from cancer. He made hospitals in Sargodha and Faisalabad with the name of Ali-Zeb Foundation. He also continued patronage to the Fatmid Foundation and contributed in several hospitals, besides numerous other NGOs.

He won 10 Nigar awards in total — one for best supporting actor (Khamosh Raho, 1964) and another Super performance awards for Doorian and Bobby in 1984. Others include best actor awards for Kaneez (1965), Aag ka darya (1966), Saiqa (1968), Wehshi (1971), Aas (1973), Aaina Aur Soorat (1974), Insaan Aur Aadmi (1975) and Haidar Ali (1978).

Mohammad ali was only actor who won 6 Best actor Nigar awards in the 1st Decade of his career.

Former president Zia ul Haq conferred Pride of Performance on Mohammad Ali in 1984 in recognition of his lifelong services to the entertainment industry of Pakistan, (First film actor who received this award, This is the third highest civilian award in Pakistan).

Tamgha-e-Imtiaz (The only film actor in Pakitan who was honored by this award, this is the second highest civilian award in Pakistan). He got many Honours and special awards Like Millenium Legend Star Graduate Award In 2000, Super Performance Nigar award 1984, ilyas Rasheedi Gold medal 1998, Nigar Lifetime Achievment Award 1998, Nigar Millenium Award 2000, Lifetime Excellency Award 1997, Pakistan Best Personality Award 1997, He Got Awards Like Bolan Awards, Screen Light Awards, National Academy Awards, Critics Award, Cultural Award from Punjab University, Asian Academy Award and Many More.

He got 1st Foreign Award Al-Nasr Award in Dubai 1984. He was also awarded Naushad Award of India. Weekly Nigar published Muhammad Ali Yadgar number in March 2010 that contained essays about his personality.

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 were made, have entirely changed, hence I called it quits."

Mohammad Ali died on March 19, 2007 due to a heart attack in Lahore.