Daily Times

Renowned comedian Umer Sharif was remembered on his birth anniversary on Friday.

Born on April 19, 1955, Umer started his career in Karachi as a stage performer at the age of 14 in 1969. He joined theatre, using the stage name Umer Zarif, modelled after his favourite comedian Munawar Zarif, but later renamed himself Umer Sharif.

He started off his career by the name Umer Zarif, but later he changed his name to Umer Sharif. He began his career as a stage performer. Two of his very famous comedy plays included “Bakra Qiston Pe” and “Buddha Ghar Pe Hai”. Overall he acted in over 50 stage plays in his career and was called as King of comedy.

Umer Sharif became a very popular star and much of the success came from the fact that he started to record his stage shows and his videotapes were rented out similarly to movies. His first movie was Hisaab but he’s better known for Mr 420, a movie where he not only acted but also directed, wrote and sang its songs as well.

Overall he acted in 35 films, his last movie being Chand Babu.

He received two National Awards for Mr 420 in the category of Best Actor and Director. Furthermore, he received 10 Nigar Awards. Umer received the prestigious Tamgha-e-Imtiaz for his contributions to the Pakistani industry as an actor, producer and comedian. He died in a hospital in Nuremberg, Germany at the age of 66.

The birth anniversary of legendary Pakistani actor Muhammad Ali was observed on Friday.

Muhammad Ali was born on 19th April 1931 at Rampur in India.

He joined Radio Pakistan Hyderabad station as a broadcaster in 1956.

Later, he moved to Radio Pakistan Karachi where its then Director General Zulfiqar Ali Bukhari became his mentor for his acting career.

He started his film career in 1962. He was the lead actor and ‘hero’ in 94 films. He won the Nigar awards for record ten times during his career.

The actor was known as ‘Shahansha-e-Jazbat’ (Emperor of Emotions) by his fans and he remained the leading figure of Pakistani cinema for more than two decades.

Ali was one of the leading actors of Lollywood’s golden age and his contribution for Pakistani cinema will always be remembered.

He married to actor Zeba and the couple was known as ‘Ali-Zeb’.

He also established the Ali-Zeb Foundation when he was at the peak of his career. The Ali-Zeb Foundation worked for the poor artists of the country.

Muhammad Ali performed in more than 250 movies and was included in the 25 greatest actors of Asia by CNN survey.

He was also given the Pride of Performance and Tamgha-e-Imtiaz awards. He died on March 19, 2006 in Lahore due to heart attack.