Noor Mohammed Charlie

Noor Mohammed Charlie Biography

Noor Mohammed Charlie is widely regarded as the first comedy star of Indian cinema. Worked in both Indian and Pakistani movies, India's first comedy king has worked with all leading actors of his time. He was a great fan of legendary Charlie Chaplin and hence took the screen name, ‘Charlie’. A successful actor in the pre-independent era of Indian cinema, he moved to Pakistan following partition and continued entertaining Pakistani film audience. For a brief period, he lived in US and spent his last days in Pakistan.

This entertaining actor was born on 1 July 1911 in Ranavav village, Porbandar, Saurashtra into a Memon family. He was not interested in studies and frequently watched movies. He did odd jobs to earn a living during his teens. In 1925 he got a job at the Imperial Film Company, where he put his courage to say that he could sing. Krishna Film Company's Akalna Bardan (1928) directed by Prafulla Ghosh marked his acting debut. He later appeared in the movies - Lekh Par Mekh and Vasant Leela. In the year 1932, he acted in the talkie, Zarina which was his real breakthrough. The film was offered by Ezra Mir, and Charlie worked with him in one more movie, Premi Pagal (1933) which cemented his position in the field. Audience equally loved him for the role he played in Chandrahasa (1933).

Same year, his lagged project Charlie was released and ‘Charlie’ tag got permanently added to his name. The movie became a huge sensation and made him a star. Later Charlie associated with Ranjit Film Company and has worked with many leading comedians - Dixit and Ghory. Charlie has also sung a few songs for talkies. With the partition, he moved to Pakistan. Daud Chand directed Mundri (1949) was his first Pakistani movie.

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Updated: November 12, 2015