Waheed Murad: Pakistan’s first ‘heart throb’ hero?

Posted on September 17, 2006
Filed Under >Adil Najam, Music, People, TV, Movies & Theatre
22 Comments
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Adil Najam

Was Waheed Murad was the very first ‘heart throb’ and ‘super star’ of Pakistan?

Cricketers Fazal Mahmood and Merry Max (Maqsood Ahmad) certainly had their groupies well before Waheed Murad, but they were ‘niche stars’.

The phenomenon called Waheed Murad took the country by storm – across class and across locations – and I would venture to say that certainly no film-star in Pakistan has had the sway over the public imagination that he had at his peak; for many, the myth reigns still.

The one movie star who was greater-than-life in somewhat similar dimensions (and more literally) was Sultan Rahi, but he too was defined by a niche constrained by language (Punjabi in his case), and to a large extent class.

These, of course, are subjective judgements. Do you think there were other ‘heart throbs’ of this stature before him? After him?

To me, the image of Waheed Murad is forever linked to such classic songs as ‘ko-ko-korina’ and ‘aakailey na jaana’ … or just about anything from the magic team of Waheed Murad and Ahmad Rushdi. Here is a little taste of vintage Waheed Murad, from the movie Ladla. The print quality is not very good and this is certainly not the best of Waheed Murad. However, it is representative of the Waheed-Rushdi genre.

Plus, I like the song, and I find the quaint ‘twist’ dance routine amusing. Indeed, the whole ambiance of the song is worth thinking about in terms of what was. Enjoy, ‘socha tha piyar na karain gay’.


As an added treat, here is another video clip of an old song. This is really much more about Madam (Noor Jahan, of course, see here) and about Shamim Ara (who, by the way, may be the most phenomenal of women in Pakistani film, having reigned the screen first as a top heroine and then as a top Producer and Director). Movie buffs, note also the ‘young’ Rangeela.. and his antics with Waheed Murad, who here is portraying his ‘chocolate’ mood: melow, sensitive, smooth, and silent. To me, at least, ‘abhi dhoond he rahi thi’ is a truly beautiful song; one from an era when Pakistani film music was at its best.

NOT EMBEDABLE

As you can see, I am a fan of Waheed Murad – he is someone who will certainly go into my ‘Pakistaniat’ capsule for the future!

22 responses to “Waheed Murad: Pakistan’s first ‘heart throb’ hero?”

  1. meri pasand waheed murad shahid shabnum raani rozina

  2. faheem says:

    waheed murad is greatest actor

  3. Naveed Bakhtiar says:

    Undoubtedly, the legend of Pakistani films in 60’s and 70’s. I remember vividly when people used to flock cinema halls to see his movies. Traffic used to come to a halt in Saddar and on MA Jinnah road near all major cinema halls. Oh, good old days of migical moments!
    I agree with some of the comments here about Santosh Kumar and Nadeem.
    Roshan: Waheed Murad died of heart failure.

  4. […] For me, however, the birth of ‘popular pop’ came with Ahmad Rushdi; especially when he teamed up with Waheed Murad. We have argued here that Waheed Murad might have been the very first ‘heart throb’ hero of Pakistan. Let me now suggest that Ahmad Rushdie defined ‘kool’ as much as Waheed Murad and that Ahmad Rushdie was the first real Pop Superstar of Pakistan. […]

  5. Yasser says:

    Waheed Murad wrote, directed, produced and acted in super hit movies. Now how many stars can do that?
    Salaam Waheed Murad!

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