Remembering Waheed Murad, the chocolate hero

Waheed Murad, the chocolate hero of Pakistani cinema, is being remembered on his 82nd birthday on Friday.

He was the famous actor, producer, director and writer of Pakistani films. Due to his looks and naughtiness on silver screen, he was often referred to as chocolate hero. His smart looks and soft dialogue delivery made him stand out from his contemporaries.

His dancing style of entering the arena with loose arm movement, taking a circle and then clasping his hands with fingertips became his logo.

One can watch ‘Three Cheers for Bhabi Hip Hip Hurray’ from the movie ‘Dever Bhabi’ sung by Ahmad Rushdi and other songs filmed on him.

Murad's first role was a cameo in Saathi in 1959. He appeared in 125 feature films and earned 32 film awards over the course of his career.

Waheed Murad started his film career by joining his father’s established Film Art in 1961 as producer of the film ‘Insaan Badalta Hai’.

He appeared in a supporting role in 1962 in the film ‘Aulad’. ‘Heera aur Pathar’ was his first movie as a leading actor and considered to be his major breakthrough.

He acted in a total of 124 films of which 38 were black and white and 86 were in colour. He acted in films 115 Urdu‚ 8 Punjabi movies and one Pashto film. He received 32 prestigious film awards. He was awarded Nigar Award for best actor in ‘Heera aur Pathar’ in 1964‚ ‘Armaan’ in1966‚ ‘Andaleeb’ in1969‚ ‘Mastana Mahi’ in 1971 and Legend Award for life time in 2002.

 He was born in 1938 in Sialkot and passed away in November 1983 in Karachi.