Abdul Latif Baloch, better known by his screen name Saqi (2 April 1925 – 22 December 1986), was a Pakistani film and television actor. He is known for mostly playing supportive roles in
Lollywood
Lollywood ( ur, , translit=lâli vuḍ) refers to Pakistan's film industry based in Lahore, previously the base for both Punjabi and Urdu language film production.
Lahore has been the center of Pakistani cinema since the partition of I ...
Pashto
Pashto (,; , ) is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family. It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani ().
Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns, it is one of the two official langua ...
films.
Early life and family
Saqi was born on April 2, 1925, in
Baghdad
Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon. I ...
,
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...
, where his father had been appointed during the
first world war
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
and later stayed there for a while as a railway employee. Saqi belonged to a Baloch family settled in
Dadu District
Dadu District ( sd, ضلعو دادو), ( ur, ) is a district of Sindh Province, Pakistan. With headquarters the city of Dadu, the district was created in 1931 by merging Kotri and Mahal Kohistan (later Jamshoro) tehsils from Karachi District a ...
, Sindh. His mother was a Kurd from Iraq. His step-brother ''Abdul Karim Baloch'' served as a general manager at PTV, Karachi Center.
Career
Saqi could speak more than 10 languages and his ability to speak English fluently helped him gain a small role in an international film '' Bhowani Junction'' (1956) which was partly shot in
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 ...
. His first Urdu film ''Ilteja'' was released in 1955. He appeared in a leading role along with
Nighat Sultana
Nighat Sultana was a Pakistani actress. She acted in both Urdu and Punjabi films and is known for her roles in films ''Chann Mahi'', ''Umar Marvi'', ''Saat Lakh'', ''Insaf'', ''Insan Badalta Hay'', ''Neend'', '' Dil Mera Dharkan Teri'', ''Afsana ...
in the movie ''Lakhpati'' (1958). In 1959, he played a role of a snake charmer in the film ''Nagin''. Another important film in his career was the 1967 release ''
Lakhon Mein Aik
''Lakhon Mein Aik'' (; ) is a 1967 Pakistani romantic musical film directed by Raza Mir and written by Zia Sarhadi. Set 20 years after the partition of India, the film stars Shamim Ara and Ijaz as star-crossed lovers. It was released on 28 Apr ...
''. He was mostly cast in character and villain roles.
Saqi worked in over 500 Urdu, Punjabi, Sindhi, and Pashto films. He also produced two films, ''Paapi'' (1968) and ''Hum Log'' (1970), but they couldn't get box office success. He also played significant roles in TV plays like ''Deewarein'', ''Jungle'', and ''Gardish''. He introduced two male playback singers
Mujeeb Aalam
Mujeeb Aalam (2 September 1948 – 2 June 2004) was a Pakistani playback singer who had a short film career. His singing style was a mixture of Mehdi Hassan and Ahmad Rushdi's style. He sang dozens of hit songs in late 1960s. However, h ...
and
Masood Rana
Masood Rana
( ur, , 6 August 1941 – 4 October 1995) was a Pakistani film playback singer. He began his singing career in 1962 with the film ''Inqalab'', became one of the top male singers in both Urdu and Punjabi films for more than thr ...
to
Lollywood
Lollywood ( ur, , translit=lâli vuḍ) refers to Pakistan's film industry based in Lahore, previously the base for both Punjabi and Urdu language film production.
Lahore has been the center of Pakistani cinema since the partition of I ...
films. His last film ''Dushmani'' was released in 1990, four years after his death.
Personal life and death
From his first marriage, Saqi had two girls and four sons. Later, he also married the actress Yasmeen Khan who used to work in
Pashto
Pashto (,; , ) is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family. It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani ().
Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns, it is one of the two official langua ...
Shaheed
''Shaheed'' ( , , ; pa, ਸ਼ਹੀਦ) denotes a martyr in Islam. The word is used frequently in the Quran in the generic sense of "witness" but only once in the sense of "martyr" (i.e. one who dies for his faith); ...
Lakhon Mein Aik
''Lakhon Mein Aik'' (; ) is a 1967 Pakistani romantic musical film directed by Raza Mir and written by Zia Sarhadi. Set 20 years after the partition of India, the film stars Shamim Ara and Ijaz as star-crossed lovers. It was released on 28 Apr ...
'' (1967)
* ''
Zarqa
Zarqa ( ar, الزرقاء) is the capital of Zarqa Governorate in Jordan. Its name means "the blue (city)". It had a population of 635,160 inhabitants in 2015, and is the most populous city in Jordan after Amman.
Geography
Zarqa is located in t ...