Muhammad Ali
Born	April 19, 1931 Rampure, Uttar Pradesh, British India
Died	March 19, 2006
Other name(s)	Shahenshah-e-Jazbaat (Urdu: شہنشاہ جذبات) (Emperor of Emotions), Millennium Super Star and Ali Bhai
Occupation	Actor [radio, films (mostly Urdu films) and television]
Years active	1962 – 1995
Spouse(s)	Zeba
Awards won Other Awards 7 Nigar Awards for Best Actor, 1 Nigar Award for Best Supporting Actor and 1 Nigar Special Award for the film Dooriyaan. Tamgha-e-Imtiaz - the second highest civilian award in Pakistan and Pride of Performance - the third highest civilian award in Pakistan

Mohammad Ali (Urdu: محمد علی ) (April 19, 1931 – March 19, 2006) was one of the greatest actors of Pakistan. Mohammad Ali was given the title of Shahenshah-e-Jazbaat (Urdu: شہنشاہ جذبات), i.e. The Emperor of Emotions. Mohammad Ali started his career at Radio Pakistan Karachi in the early 1960s. In 1968, he married the renowned actress Zeba. He was known in the film circle for his command as a passionate actor and his ease in dramatic situations as well. He is the winner of 7 Nigar Awards for Best Actor one for Best Supporting Actor, and one special award for the film Dooriyaan (Urdu: دوریاں). His last movie was Kirai ke Qatil directed by S. Suleman and released in 1989.

Start of career from Radio Pakistan

Muhammad Ali's older brother Irshad Ali was doing service as a broadcaster in Radio Pakistan Hyderabad, so Mohammad Ali also joined Radio Hyderabad as a broadcaster in 1956. He worked in radio dramas and recorded many programmes for children. In those times Mustafa Qureshi, Robina Qureshi, Qurban Jilani, Badar Hashmi, Hamayat Ali, Irshad Ali etc. were working for Radio. He got 10 rupees for a drama. He was called as Bhoray Mian by his friends. After that he worked as a broadcaster in Radio Bhawalpur and finally moved to Radio Pakistan Karachi. He met here with Z.A. Bukhari, who was the director of Radio Pakistan.

Film career

Mohammad Ali accepted the role of a villain in the famous director-writer-poet Fazal Ahmed Karim Fazli's film Chiragh jalta raha, which was not only his first film (as a villain) but also the first film for Zeba, Deeba, Kamal Irani, and the director Fazli. It proved to be the first and the last film for a virtually unknown actor named Arif, who was the hero of this film.

Chiragh jalta raha was premiered by Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah on March 9, 1962 at the Nishat Cinema, M.A. Jinnah Road, Karachi. Its songs were composed by Radio Pakistan's music director-singer, Nihal Abdullah. The movie brought laurels for Mohammad Ali. 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.

The late director Rafiq Rizvi bapu's films Shararat and Khamosh raho (1964) were the first two films in which Ali appeared as a hero, which led to a long and successful career for him as the hero for innumerable super hit movies. Moreover, he produced many movies as well.

Mohammad Ali had total 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, so his own films were 248 (230 Urdu, 10 Punjabi, 6 Pashto, 1 Hindi and 1 Bengali).^[1]

Political and social activities

He served much of Pakistan Army men after their release from India after 1971 war. He put up black dress in International Moscow Film Festival against India for 93,000 prisoners of war after 1971 war. He worked to collect funds for Palestines. He had strong relations with Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, he was also jailed for 5 months in the Govt. of Zia-ul-Haq due to these relations. His films were boycotted in Karachi in 1976 for 10 months, the reason was that he favored Pakistan Peoples Party in a meeting, who was held against this party. When Islamic conference held place in Lahore in Bhutto’s period, the King Faisal of Saudi Arabia stayed in his bungalow.

He also had close relationship with Nawaz Sharif and had served as the Cultural Minister during his government.

Apart from that he has been associated with the construction business for many years.

According to a newspaper report, he owed Rs. 1700 to Radio Pakistan Karachi's cafeteria in his initial days. Recently he has urged the cafeteria's cashier to retain his name in their records with the same amount, and that he is willing to pay as much money as is demanded to keep up the old records, since it reminds him of those bad times.

Ali-Zeb Foundation

In the 1990s Muhammad Ali founded the Ali-Zeb Foundation to help the terminally ill, especially those suffering from cancer. Mohammad Ali made hospitals in Sargodha and Faisalabad with the name of Ali-Zeb foundation.

Family

The daughter of his wife Zeba, Samina (from Zeba's previous first marriage with abdul-smad) was the center of attraction for Mohammad Ali. He gave her the name Samina Ali and loved her dearly.

After his retirement from films, Mohammad Ali was asked in a television show about his dissociation from the films, and 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 at the age of 75 due to a heart attack in Lahore, on March 19, 2006.

Filmography

External links

• Brief Information about Muhammad Ali in Pakistan Film Magazine
• Mohammad Ali at the Internet Movie Database
• Mohammad Ali passes away
• Complete filmography of Muhammad Ali
• Video songs of Muhammad Ali