Zia Mohyeddin is a British-Pakistani actor, director, producer and television broadcaster. He is famous for his unique style of reciting Urdu poetry and prose. He was the first Pakistani to appear in a Hollywood film. On February 13, 2023, he passed away due to chronic illness at the age of 91.
Wiki/Biography
Zia Mohyeddin (1933-2023) was born on Saturday, 20 June 1933, in Lyallpur, British India (now Faisalabad, Pakistan) (age 89; death). He participated in the Drama Club of Central Training College, Lahore. In 1949, he graduated from Government College, Lahore. Thereafter, in the early 1950s, he gave up his master’s degree in psychology and traveled to Australia to observe broadcasting methods there in the frequent fellowship broadcasts provided by the Colombo Plan. In 1953, he joined the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, where he studied for another BA.
Zia Mohyeddin, 7 (on the floor, left) at Central Training Institute Drama Club, Lahore
appearance
Height (approximately): 5′ 9″
Hair Color: Salt and Pepper
Eye color: black
family
He was born into an Urdu-speaking family in Rohtak, East Punjab, British India (now Haryana, India).
Parents and siblings
His father, Khadim Mohyeddin, was a mathematician, musicologist, playwright and lyricist. He has five sisters. His sister, Razia Ishaq, is a poet and lives in Indianapolis.
wife and children
Zia Mohideen was married three times. His first wife was Sarwar Zemani, and they had two sons, Minos Ameer and Risha Ameen.
Zia Mohyeddin with his eldest son and grandson
His second wife was Nahid Siddiqui, a Kathak dancer. The couple married in 1973 and separated in 1991. He has a son with his second wife, Hassan “Moyo” Mohyeddin, a percussionist and music producer. His third wife is Azra Mohyeddin, a Pakistani singer and actress who is thirty years younger than him. They married in 1994 and he has a daughter, Aaliya Mohyeddin, born in 2002, with his third wife.
Zia Mohyeddin with his third wife and daughter
other relatives
Daud Rahbar was his cousin, a writer, poet, musician and thinker. He was the translator of Ghalib’s Persian letters.
Profession
Theater Production/Drama
Zia Mohyeddin began her career working in theater productions in various capacities while in London. His performances in the plays “Long Day’s Journey into Night” and “Julius Caesar” won critical acclaim, and he eventually made his West End debut in the play “A Passage to India.” The play ran at the Comedy Theater from April 20, 1960, to December 3, 1960, and the play subsequently ran for 302 performances.
Zia Mohyeddin (left) in the drama “A Passage to India”
In 1984, he played Munshi Abdul Karim in the TV series The Queen and Munshi, which revolved around Queen Victoria and her young Indian servant and Urdu teacher Ab. Abdul Karim unfolds, one of her favorite people who later suffered from anger, anger and resentment towards his family. Mohideen received critical acclaim for his performance in the series, and it was later believed that the role could only be played by him.
television
british tv shows
Zia Mohyeddin has appeared in many British TV series. In 1962, he appeared in the episode “A Trip to Spain” in the television series The Adventures of Sir Francis Drake. In 1966, he played Prince Ali in the episode “Honey for Princes” of the TV series The Avengers. He played the role of Raphael in the episode “Night Flight to Andorra” of the TV series “Main Man in a Suitcase”.
Zia Mohideen (right) in the TV series “The Man in the Suitcase”
He received critical acclaim for his role as Marwan Shaheen in the British drama documentary Death of a Princess (1980). Some of his other British television series appearances include Adam Adamant Lives! (1967), Jackanory (1967), Gangsters (1978), Matilda (1980) and Family Pride (1991- 1992).
pakistani tv shows
In 1969, he founded the first television talk show in Pakistan, “The Zia Mohideen Show”, which later became famous and lasted until 1973. His show with the slogan “zara theka lagaiye” at the beginning of a rap style song became the most watched show in Pakistan. a trademark of his show.
Zia Mohyeddin (right) and Mehdi Hasan on “The Zia Mohyeddin Show”
Some of the Pakistani TV shows hosted by Zia Mohyeddin include “Payal”, “Chacha Chhakkan”, “Zia Ke Saath” and “Jo Jany Wo Jeetey”.
Zia Mohyeddin in the show “Jo Jany Woh Jeetey”
Movie
Zia Mohyeddin made her acting debut in 1960 with the Pakistani film Rahguzar.
Movie “Rahguzar” poster
In 1971, he starred in another Pakistani film, Mujrim Kaun, which did not do well at the box office.
Movie “Mujrim Kaun” poster
In 1970, he made his debut in Bollywood with the film “Bombay Talkies” starring Shashi Kapoor.
Zia Mohideen (far right) during the filming of Bombay Talkies
In 1962, he made his Hollywood debut with the British film “Lawrence of Arabia” directed by David Lean. Mohideen plays Tafas, an Arab tour guide in the film. He later wrote an essay, “Peter O’Toole,” describing his experience filming the film in Jordan. The film won seven Oscars at the 1963 Academy Awards.
Zia Mohyeddin in the movie “Lawrence of Arabia” stills
Some of Zia Mohideen’s other films include Sami Goes South (1963), Behold a Pale Horse (1964), Khartoum (1966), The Sailor from Gibraltar (1967) ), “The Work Is Four” – “The Lettered Word” (1968), “Partition” (1987) and “The Immaculate Conception” (1992).
books
In 2008, he wrote his first book, A Carrot is a Carrot: Memories and Reflections, published by Ushba Publishing House, Karachi. In 2012, he wrote his second book, Drama at the National Academy of Performing Arts, which was published in Karachi. Zia Mohyeddin was very familiar with the cultures of the West and the Asian subcontinent and wrote about the literature and traditions of both regions in his articles. His book, The God I Worship: Memories and Reflections, is a collection of essays that reference his career as well as Western literature, film, and theater. He also discusses Harold Pinter, Samuel Beckett, WH Auden, Virginia Woolf, Edna O’Brien, WB Yeats, and Monisha Alvi and other famous writers. In his essay “The Libation Offering” in the book, Mohideen compares plays written by Greek philosophers such as Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, and calls Greek tragedy “the most important literary phenomenon in the Western world.” One of the greatest legacies ever inherited”. In his book The Seedbed of Ideas, Mohideen compares the great awareness and changes brought about by the theatrical traditions of the two regions. He also discusses the European stereotype of dark-skinned turbaned men or “noble savages” in historical and contemporary contexts in his article “Vicious and Turbaned Turks.” He used Shakespeare’s play “Othello” as an example to discuss racial politics in Western countries/the United States. He highlights how British and American audiences over the centuries “willingly accept a black Othello on stage as long as it is white (with burnt cork to imitate black skin tones)”. In the article, he further cites an incident in 1833, when Ella Aldridge, an African-American actor who played Othello, was believed to be in love with Ellen Terry, who played Desdemona in the play. insult.
Speech and recitation
He is famous for his unique style of reciting Urdu poetry and prose. His voice, perfect diction, intonation and pronunciation created a unique craze among his listeners. He is also a debater at GC. He often recited the literary works of Urdu poets, from classics such as Mir Taqi Mir, Nazir Akbalabadi, Momin and Ghalib to Jigar Moradabadi, Qiao Literary works of modern poets such as Shi Marihabadi, Feraq Gorakhpuri, Faiz Ahmed Faiz and Noon Mim Rashid. Also known as Meerajee). In addition to reciting literary works, he also records audiobooks. In 2002, he recorded the English version of Haroon and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie. Every year on December 31, Zia Mohyeddin recites the words of the great poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz at her annual performance “Zia Mohyeddin ke saath aik sham” in Lahore Poems written by Faiz Ahmed Faiz). The annual show tradition was started by his nephew Naveed ‘Bobby’ Riaz in 1986 but was disrupted during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019 and 2020.
Zia Mohideen reciting
Awards, Honors, Achievements
- In 2003, Zia Mohyeddin was awarded the Sitara-i-Imtiaz (Star of Excellence) Award by the Government of Pakistan.
- In 2012, he was awarded the Hilal-i-Imtiaz (Crescent of Excellence) Award by the President of Pakistan.
- On November 29, 2017, he was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Pakistani community living in Dubai. The award was conferred on him by the Ambassador of Pakistan to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
- In 2019, he was awarded the Pakistan Society’s inaugural Jinnah Medal at the Pakistan Society’s 66th Annual Dinner held at the Lincoln Hotel in London.
Zia Mohyeddin awarded Jinnah Medal
- In 2021, Mohyeddin won the first prize in the Heritage and Culture category of the Karachi Electricity KHI Awards.
Zia Mohyeddin wins Karachi Electrical KHI Award
die
Zia Mohyeddin passed away on February 13, 2023 at the age of 89 due to chronic illness.
Facts/Trivia
- Zia revealed in an interview that she had wanted to be an actor since she was a child, and she first appeared on stage when she was 11 years old. Speaking about this in an interview, he said:
It would be foolish for me to say that my acting career began on the stage of a play my father wrote when I was 11 years old. “
- After graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Zia Mohideen started working at Radio Pakistan and later joined Radio Australia.
- In 1965, he performed in the play “A Passage to India” in a BBC television production, playing one of the protagonists, Dr. Aziz, which brought changes to Western drama and film, as South Asians did not play leading roles in dramas at the time. Mainstream Western production.
- In 1965, after he performed in the BBC television production of the drama A Passage to India, the writer EM Forster was deeply impressed by him, and the two later became good friends. At one point, Foster asked Muhyiddin not to call him “sir” but by his first name, to which Muhyiddin replied:
I can’t, sir, I would be embarrassed, but if you would allow me to do so, I would be happy to call you Lord Morgan. “
- During an interview in Birmingham, Mohideen was asked if he misses Pakistan, to which he replied that while he misses Pakistan because his friends and family are there, he does not miss Pakistan professionally. He said,
No, I don’t miss Pakistan professionally; There wasn’t much left when I left. If I had stayed, I would be finished now. No respect, no encouragement, no consideration. You spoke of Muslim contributions to music and called musicians “meerasis.” “
- In February 2005, he was appointed as the director of the National Academy of Performing Arts in Karachi by the then President of Pakistan Pervez Musharraf.
- Zia Mohyeddin has an armchair with angular lighting in his study where he often sits and smokes.
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education