Swaran Lata

Swaran Lata Biography

Swaran Lata was a Pakistani film actress, who earlier worked in Bollywood movies. She started her career in the film industry in British India, and after partition in 1947, she moved to Pakistan. She is often addressed as 'Tragedy Queen' because of her emotional and tragic roles onscreen. Her emotional dialogue delivery was also well noted in those days. Laarey, Pherey, Naukar and Heer are her noted movies as a lead actress. In supporting character role, Sawaal worth mention. After 1960’s she moved towards character roles. She was heroine of Pakistan's first ever silver jubilee film Pherey. It was a Punjabi film in which she spoke Urdu.

She was born on December 20, 1924 in Rawalpindi of British India into a Siyal Jatt Sikh family. She lost her parents at a younger age and had to lead a strict life under her elder brother. She did her Senior Cambridge from Delhi and then joined the Academy of Music and Arts, Lucknow. Swaran Lata started her career as a stage actress. While studying in Lucknow, on a travel to Delhi she was approached by a few film makers. Though she denied the offer, to her surprise her strict brother nodded yes. He was convinced by one among those directors. Her debut movie was Awaaz released in 1942.

During early 1940’s she moved to Mumbai. She got married to film actor cum film maker, Nazir Ahmed. She converted to Islam after her marriage and changed her name to Saeeda Bano. Swaran-Nazir pair has delivered numerous memorable movies before and after Indian partition.  After partition, they moved to Pakistan and gave significant contributions to Pakistani cinema. They shifted from Mumbai to Lahore. In Bollywood she has worked with Bollywood greats like Prithviraj Kapoor and Motilal.

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Updated: January 02, 2014