Movie icon Firdous Begum dies: Heer of Punjabi epic Heer Ranjah acted in 150 Punjabi, Urdu, Pashto films

LAHORE:Movie icon and Punjabi epic ‘Heer Ranjah’s Heer Parveen aka Firdous Begum died at a private hospital here on Wednesday, where she was admitted on Tuesday after suffering a brain hemorrhage. She was 73.

Begum Firdous acted in over 150 Punjabi, Urdu and Pashto films. She got her breakthrough in the 1970 epic love story Heer Ranjha, based on Syed Waris Shah's world renowned Heer Waris Shah' in which she played the lead role of Heer opposite Ejaz Durrani (Ranjha). Firdous Begum was the 60s superstar who started her career in Fanoos in the year 1963. Other than that, her other films include Khandaan, Malang, Lai Laag, and Aurat. Real name Parveen, Firdous was introduced by Nakshab in Fanoos (1963) as a supporting actress, while the main leads were played by Komal and Salam Peerzada. When Firdous started her career, she didn’t enjoy immediate success and most of her earlier films flopped including Khandaan, Malang, Lai Laag and Aurat. With the success of the Punjabi film Malangi in 1965, she was finally accepted by the audiences. One of the songs from this film “Mahi vay sanoun bhul na javein” sung by Noor Jehan and picturized on Firdous was one of the main reasons for the success of this film.

The acceptance turned into adulation as her pairing with the Punjabi superstar Akmal clicked in a huge way and two started scoring one jubilee hit after another (Akbara, Chacha Jee etc). Soon Akmal and Firdous were having a torrid love affair (many people insist that they had married). Akmal died suddenly in 1967, and insiders in the industry claim that there was more to his death than just death by overdose or liver failure. Insiders claim that it was Firdous’ disgruntled brothers who were responsible for poisoning Akmal – a star who is still talked about as King of the 60’s.

Despite the loss of Akmal, Firdous soldiered on relentlessly and featured in many hit films with the top Punjabi actors of that time including Habib, Sudhir, Yusuf Khan and the man who would eventually play a major part in her life – Ejaz Durrani. Producer Masood Parvez bought Firdous and Ejaz together for the folk tale of Mirza Jat in 1967 which became a raging success. Then Masood Parvez hit the jackpot in 1970 casting the two for the legend of Heer Ranjha. Firdous left the film industry in 1976 and joined it again after 8 years in 1984 as an unsuccessful character actress in films including Yeh kaisey hua (1984), Hitler (1986).