fiction.wikisort.org - Actor

Ragni (born Shamshad Begum; October 1924 – 2007), also known as Shaado, was a Pakistani actress. She worked in Urdu and Punjabi films under her stage name Ragni. She also worked in Hindi films in cinema of India.[3] She was known for her beautiful doe like eyes and was referred as Almond-eyed Beauty.[2] 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 Shahjahan.[4]

Ragni
Ragni in early 1940s
Born	Shamshad Begum (1924-10-22)22 October 1924 Gujranwala, Punjab, British India
Died	27 February 2007(2007-02-27) (aged 82) Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan
Resting place	Gulberg gaveyard Lahore[1]
Other names	Almond-eyed Beauty[2]
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1940 – 1983
Spouse(s)	S. Gul ​ ​ (m. 1947; died 1999)​ Mohammad Aslam (divorced)
Children	Abid (son) Saira (daughter)
Parent	Diwan Parmanand (father)

Early life

Ragini was born as Shamshad Begum in Gujranwala 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.[2] In Lahore filmmaker Roshan Lal Shorey was a neighbour of Ragni and noticed her and convinced Diwan to let Ragni act in films.[2]

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 (1943), Daasi (1944) and Kaise Kahun (1945).

In 1945, she left Lahore for Bombay and teamed up with A R Kardar.[2] 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.[2] Filmmaker AR Kardar offered Ragini to play Mumtaz Mahal Shah Jehan (1946), It is said that Ragini was paid rupees one lakh for the film, making her the highest-paid actress of that time.[2]

After Partition Ragni chose to move to Pakistan but has also done a couple of Indian movies which did not fare well.[2]

In 1949 she work in her first film which was the Punjabi film, Mundri (1949) with Ilyas Kashmiri. 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.[5]

In the late-50s, she worked in film Anarkali with Noor Jehan and Shamim Ara which earned her fame. Later she worked in film Noukar which was a hit film. Ragni worked in a number of fifty films during her career that spanned some years.[6]

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.[2] 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.[5]

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.[2] Ragni was deeply sad about the death of her son and it affected her health.[3] Ragni was admitted at Services Hospital on Tuesday morning.[2] She died on 27 February because she was in an extremely serious condition while she was in hospital at age 82 in 2007.[2] She was laid to rest at Gulberg graveyard Ali-Zeb road Lahore.[7]

Filmography

Film

Year	Film	Language
1940	Dulla Bhatti	Punjabi[8]
1941	Himmat	Hindi
1943	Poonji	Hindi
1944	Dasi	Punjabi
1945	Shirin Farhad	Hindi[9]
1945	Dhamki	Hindi
1945	Naik Parveen	Hindi
1946	Bindiya	Hindi
1946	Shahjehan	Hindi[10]
1947	Manmani	Hindi
1947	Farz	Hindi
1948	Teri Yaad	Urdu
1949	Mundri	Punjabi
1950	Beqarar	Urdu[11]
1950	Kundan	Urdu
1951	Akaely	Urdu[12]
1953	Ghulam	Urdu
1954	Gumnam	Urdu
1955	Naukar	Urdu
1955	Shararey	Urdu
1955	Nazrana	Urdu[13]
1955	Iltija	Urdu[14]
1957	Bedari	Urdu[15]
1958	Bahar	Urdu
1958	Anarkali	Urdu[16]
1958	Mumtaz	Urdu
1964	Gehra Daagh	Urdu[17]
1965	Naila	Urdu[18][19]
1966	Laado	Punjabi[20]
1968	Saiqa	Urdu
1970	Sayyan	Punjabi[21]
1971	Ucha Naa Pyar Da	Punjabi
1972	Sabaq	Urdu[22]
1972	Sultan	Punjabi[23]
1980	Haseena Maan Jaye Gi	Urdu
1983	Ab-e-Hayat	Pashto

References

External links

• Ragni at IMDb

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