Khursheed Shahid

Khursheed Shahid was born in 1923 in Delhi, where her father was a government official and her mother was an educated housewife.[1][5] Khursheed along with her sisters and brother used to watch performances of Ram Leela a religious theatre.[1] She along with her sisters used to act in Ram Leela Theatre portraying different characters on stage at age seven.[5] Khursheed completed her education from Delhi.[1][5] Khursheed father was a liberal man and he believed that education was important for girls.[1] Khursheed sibling included four sisters and one brother.[1] Khursheed's father supported her career.[1]

Khursheed Shahid began acting and singing at the age of nine.[6][1] When Khursheed was in grade six a Congress leader Aruna Asaf Ali came to her school looking for someone young and her classmates told Ms. Ali about her singing and acting talents.[1] Ms. Ali selected Kurhseed for a musical performance. Later after the performance Ms. Ali took her to the All India Radio to renowned music composer Feroz Nizami, he listened her singing and encouraged her to sing.[1] He gave her a poem to sing after listening to Khursheed so he told her to visit him the next day so that he will composed it for her.[1] The following day when she sang the poem for Feroz, he liked it and told her that it was of Raag Darbari.[1] Khursheed was nine when she started singing at All India Radio, Delhi.[2] She also read poems wrote by Mukhtar Siddiqui at All India Radio.[1]

Later she moved to Parliament Street there she meet music director Roshan Lal Nagrath paternal grandfather to popular Indian actor Hrithik Roshan.[2] He saw Khursheed's potential for singing and he started to have rehearsing for her and gave her lessons about singing.[1] Kursheed befriend his wife and she would visit his family.[1]

After the Partition in 1947, she along with her family moved to Lahore in Pakistan.[2] Khursheed went to Radio Pakistan for audition and she start doing musical programmes by station director Mehmood Nizami.[2] He liked her classical singing and gave her lessons.[2] Mehmood Nizami introduced Khursheed to Bhai Lal and she learned classical singing from Bhai Lal Mohammad.[2] She was also inspired by Roshan Ara Begum, she started copying her style and singing that many people acknowledged that Khursheed sounded like Roshan Ara on the radio.[1] Khursheed met Roshan Ara Begum at Lahore Arts Council.[1] There Khursheed and Roshan Ara Begum became friends and she would take Khursheed to places she would visit and then she taught Khursheed to play Tanpura.[1]

Khursheed used do theatre before the launch of PTV in 1964 and she did a lot of quality theatre plays written by Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Manto and Sadequain.[2][1] Khursheed made a name for herself in theatre.[1] After PTV was launched in 1964 in Pakistan the executive Aslam Azhar of PTV offered her work. She agreed on a condition that she would be the highest paid actress and he accepted her condition.[1] Khursheed did her first play for PTV was Ras Malai a comedy drama.[1] Then she regularly worked for PTV in dramas Wadi-e-Purkhar, Kaanch Ka Pul, Fehmida Ki Kahani, Ustani Rahat Ki Zabani, Kiran Kahani and Dhund.[2][1]

Then Khursheed appeared in Khurshid Anwar's film Chingari on the insistence of Faiz Sahib.[1] Khursheed performance in Punjabi movie Bhola Sajan directed by Ashfaque Malik was regarded as a finest acting even Khursheed admitted herself.[1]

In 1995 Khursheed was honoured for her contributions towards the singing, film and television industry, she was honored by the Government of Pakistan with the Pride of Performance.[1][2]

Khursheed worked in popular TV dramas series to her credit, including Parchaiyan, Zair, Zabar, Pesh and Uncle Urfi all these dramas series were written by playwright and scriptwriter Haseena Moin.[1] Later in late 2003 she retired and went to live with her son, she moved to Lahore permanently to be with her son Salman Shahid.[2][1]

Kursheed married producer Salim Shahid at a very young age the marriage did not last long, they did not divorced.[7] Salim left for BBC London a few years after their marriage there he stayed till his death.[7] She has one son Salman Shahid who is also an actor.[8]

Khursheed Shahid was admitted to a hospital a few days back after she suffered a cardiac arrest.[8] She died on 27 June due to cardiac arrest while she was in hospital, age 98.[8][9] She was laid to rest in a Phase 7 cemetery after her funeral prayers were held at Defense mosque in Defense Phase 2, Block T.[10]

She was awarded the Pride of Performance by the President of Pakistan in 1995[1][7][2]

• Khursheed Shahid at IMDb