Lahore: The 37 death anniversary of renowned film TV actor Saqi was observed here and across the country on Sunday.
Versatile actor Saqi passed away 37 years ago.
Born in Baghdad on April 2, 1925, Saqi’s real name was Abdul Latif Baloch. His family hailed from Dadu district of Sindh. Saqi was the only actor in Pakistan who started his career with the Hollywood film “Bhavani Junction”.
In 1955, he became an assistant in a film production unit in Lahore. His first film in Pakistan was “Iltija”, which was released in 1955. In 1958, he appeared as a hero in the film “Lakhpati” with Nighat Sultana. In 1959, one of his important films was “Nagan”.
Saqi was fluent in more than 20 national and foreign languages. In addition to Urdu and Punjabi, he also appeared in films made in English, Pashto, Sindhi and Balochi languages.
He worked in more than 450 films, ‘Zarqa’, ‘Ek Dil Do Deewane’, ‘Hazar Dastan’, ‘Parda’, ‘Shaheed’, ‘Mera Ghar Meri Jannat’, ‘Main Bani Dulhan’ are his prominent films. Saqi also made 2 films
named ‘Papi’ and ‘Hum Log’, but they could not be successful.
Saqi also had the honor of introducing singers like Masood Rana and Mujeeb Alam. He also worked in several TV dramas, including ‘Deewarin’, ‘Jangal’ and ‘Gardesh’ which were immensely popular.
Saqi passed away on December 22, 1987.