Nazir Ahmed Khan

Nazir Ahmed Khan Biography

Nazir Ahmed Khan was an actor and film maker of both Indian and Pakistani movies. Till independence, he has been associated with Indian cinema and after partition, he moved to Pakistan with his wife, actress Swaran Lata and together they have done numerous movies later. He has been associated with two hundred films during his film career of 55 years. Nazir Ahmed was widely known as Bao Jee in the film industries in India as well as Pakistan. He was the first successful film hero in Pakistan cinema.

Nazir married thrice in his life time. First, he was married to his cousin Sikandara Begum, daughter of film director K. Asif of Mughal-E-Azam fame. Later he married Swaran Lata and Sitara Devi. Shamaa, Midnight Mail, Swami Pooja, Chher Chhar, Aabroo, Salma, Gaon Ki Gori, Apni Nagaria, Laila Majnu, Wamaq Azra, Sandaisa, Kaljug, Society, Maa Baap ki Laaj, Shokh Dilruba, Sher ka Panja, Yaadgar, Malika and Abida are his hit movies.

With dreams of becoming an actor, he reached Kolkata during 1920’s. In those days, film shooting was solely concentrated in Kolkata. He appeared in a character role in Kardar’s Sarfarosh in 1929. Kardar once again gave him an opportunity in the movie, Heer, where he played the role of Qazi. Both these movies belong to silent era and later he worked for the third time with Kardar for the movie, Mysterious Bandit. When the film industry shifted to Mumbai, he too moved to Mumbai. He played lead roles in movies like Rajputana Ka Sher, Chandaal Chaukri, Badmaash Ka Baita and Pahari Sawar.

In 1934, as per Kardar’s request, he moved to Kolkata and worked with him in the movies, Chandra Gupta, Sultana, Milaap, Mandar, Night Bird and Aab-e-Hayat. His role of Chanakiya in Chandra Gupta was one of his best roles during this period. He shaved his head to do this role. In 1939, both Nazir and Kardar moved to Bombay. He worked in a character role in Nazir’s Baghbaan, though he was already an established actor in lead role. After partition, he moved to Pakistan where he served as one of the great architects of Pakistan cinema. During 1960’s he took a break from cinema and died in August 1983.

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Updated: January 02, 2014