Daily Times

The 29th death anniversary of legendary film actor Sultan Rahi was observed on Thursday. Sultan Rahi began his film career in 1959 as a guest actor in film ‘Baghi’. He rose to tremendous stardom with the release of film ‘Maula Jatt’ in 1979.

During his career, he appeared in more than 800 Punjabi and Urdu-language movies and was also named in the Guinness Book of World Records as the most prolific actor.

Born on June 24, 1938, Sultan Rahi’s real name was Muhammad Sultan. His film career began in 1959 with his appearance as a guest actor in the film ‘Baghi’.

Rahi earned two Nigar Awards for his work in ‘Babul’ and ‘Basheera’.

Director Aslam Dar’s film Bashira proved to be the first milestone in his career.

His most prominent films include ‘Maula Jutt’, ‘Warryam’, ‘Sher Khan’ and ‘Godfather’.

His pairing with actress Asia and Anjuman was favourite among the viewers and his last movie was with actress Saima.

In an interview, Sohail Ahmed shared some lesser-known insights about Sultan Rahi. He revealed that Rahi had a background in theatre and aspired to take on diverse roles. Interestingly, even after attaining superstar status, Rahi Sahab continued to perform in live theatre productions, although such shows weren’t recorded at that time.

Sohail Ahmed also mentioned that Sultan Rahi held a special admiration for him because they both came from a theatre background. Rahi expressed his desire to appear in films wearing suits, but producers were fixated on making Gandasa films, a genre he had already done extensively.

Sultan Rahi longed for the opportunity to explore unique and different roles in cinema, Sohail Ahmed said. Sultan Rahi was shot dead in Gujranwala in 1996.