Ragni (born Shamshad Begum; October 1924 – 2007), also known as Shaado, was a Pakistani actress. She worked in

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

Punjabi films under her stage name ''Ragni''. She also worked in

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

films in

cinema of India The Cinema of India consists of motion pictures produced in India, which had a large effect on world cinema since the late 20th century. Major centers of film production across the country include Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Ko ...

. She was known for her beautiful doe like eyes and was known as ''Almond-eyed Beauty''. Ragni is considered to be the highest-paid actress of her time in 1940s, being paid 1 lakh rupees by AR Kardar for her role in ''

Shahjehan ''Shahjehan'' is a 1946 Indian Hindi language film. The film was directed by Abdul Rashid Kardar and written by Kamal Amrohi. It starred K. L. Saigal, Ragini, Kanwar, Nasreen and P. Jairaj. The music was composed by Naushad with Majrooh Sultan ...

''.

Early life

Ragini was born as Shamshad Begum in

Gujranwala Gujranwala ( ur, , label=none; ) is a city and capital of Gujranwala Division located in Pakistan. It is also known as "City of Wrestlers" and is quite famous for its food. It is the 5th most populous city proper after Karachi, Lahore, Faisala ...

in 1924. Her mother died when Ragni was very young and her father Seth Diwan Parmanand took her with him to Lahore and they lived at a house on Fleming Road. In Lahore filmmaker Roshan Lal Shorey was a neighbour of Ragni and noticed her and convinced Diwan to let Ragni act in films.

Career

She started her acting career in a film which launched by Roop K Shorey in the Punjabi film ''Dulla Bhatti'' (1940) opposite MD Kanwar. The film was a major success and Ragni became a star overnight. Ragni went on to act in several Lahore based productions in Hindi and Punjabi like ''Sehti Murad'' (1941), ''Nishani'' (1942), ''Ravi Par'' (1942), ''

Poonji ''Poonji'' is a Bollywood film. It was released in 1943. The film was directed by Ravindra Dave and Vishnu R. Pancholi. It starred M. Esmail, Durga Mota, Ragini in lead roles. Plot The film revolves around three sisters trying to prevent th ...

'' (1943), ''Daasi'' (1944) and ''Kaise Kahun'' (1945). In 1945, she left Lahore for Bombay and teamed up with A R Kardar. Later on Naik Parveen by S M Yousaf turned out to be one of her most memorable films. Ragni's role in film ''Naik Parveen'' (1946) was another successful movie that consolidated her position as a top star. Filmmaker AR Kardar offered Ragini to play Ruhi in ''

'' (1946), It is said that Ragini was paid rupees one lakh for the film, making her the highest-paid actress of that time. After Partition Ragni chose to move to

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

but has also done a couple of Indian movies which did not fare well. In 1949 she work in her first film which was the Punjabi film, ''Mundri'' (1949) with

Ilyas Kashmiri Ilyas Kashmiri, also referred to as Maulana Ilyas Kashmiri, Mufti Ilyas Kashmiri and Muhammad Ilyas Kashmiri (10 February 1964 – 3 June 2011), was a Pakistani ex-Special Forces Islamist guerrilla insurgent who fought against India in K ...

. Then she worked in films ''Akaili'', ''Nazrana'', ''Baydari'', ''Kundan'' and ''Zanjeer''. She also successfully performed a number of character roles in films such as ''Husn-o-Ishq'', ''Gumnam'', ''Ghulam'', ''Duniya Na Maane'', ''Mirza Jat'' and ''Aab-i-Hayat''. In the late-50s, she worked in film ''

Anarkali Anarkali () was a legendary woman said to be loved by the 16th-century Mughal Prince Salim, who later became Emperor Jahangir. According to some accounts, Anarkali was the nickname of the courtesan Nadira Begum or Sharf-un-Nisa, though scho ...

'' with

Noor Jehan Noor Jehan ( Punjabi: ) (born () Allah Rakhi Wasai ; 23 September 1926 – 23 December 2000; sometimes spelled Noorjehan),Ashish Rajadhyaksha and Paul Willemen, ''Encyclopaedia of Indian Cinema,'' British Film Institute, Oxford University Pres ...

and

Shamim Ara Shamim Ara (22 March 1938 – 5 August 2016) was a Pakistani film actress, director and producer. She was known as ''The Tragic Beauty'' because of the tragic heroine roles she often portrayed in films. She was one of the most popular actresse ...

which earned her fame. Later she worked in film ''Noukar'' which was a hit film. Ragni worked in a number of sixty films during her career that spanned some years.

Personal life

Ragni's married Mohammad Aslam in the early 1940s, the marriage did not last long but she had two children from her first marriage, Saira and Abid. She again got married in Pakistan in 1947 to S. Gul who produced and co-starred opposite her in Beqarar and her son Abid died from cancer some years ago in USA and her daughter Saira got married and moved to

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...

Illness and death

After the death of her husband Ragni did not married again and lived in Gulberg although she remained in contact with her daughter Saira. Ragni was deeply sad about the death of her son and it affected her health. Ragni was admitted at Services Hospital on Tuesday morning. She died on 27 February because she was in an extremely serious condition while she was in hospital at age 82 in 2007. She was laid to rest at Gulberg graveyard Ali-Zeb road

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...

Filmography

Film

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ragni 1924 births 20th-century Pakistani actresses Actresses in Punjabi cinema 20th-century Indian actresses Actresses in Hindi cinema 2007 deaths Actresses in Urdu cinema Punjabi people People from Gujranwala Actresses in Pashto cinema 21st-century Indian actresses Indian film actresses Punjabi women 21st-century Pakistani actresses Pakistani film actresses