PESHAWAR: Noted Pashto film star Suriya Khan has appealed to her fans, art lovers, philanthropists and provincial government to extend financial assistance to her so that she can overcome her hardships and set up a beauty parlour.

A post regarding her life in destitute and subsequent appeal for help went viral on social media as most of her fans began to know more about the life of the superstar of the Pashto film industry during early 70s, 80s and late 90s.

Suriya Khan had played heroine in around 140 Pashto movies and received numerous awards for her marvelous performance in Pashto, Urdu and Punjabi movies. Also she had produced three top Pashto films including Zartaja, Mujahid and Qaidee.

“Already a widow, I grew up my only son, got him married through thick and thin but two years ago he died of heart attack and then hepatitis attacked me. I applied for financial assistance to KP government, which turned down my application on the ground that my national identity card carried address of Punjab. When I took up my application to the Punjab government, it was thrown into dustbin on the plea that my contributions were all to Pashto film industry. Where an artist like me should go to,” Ms Khan complained with her eyes welled up.

Aasia Bibi aka Suriya Khan had started her acting career when she was student of 9th grade and her first Pashto film Dara-i-Khyber was released in 1971, followed by Orbal and many other super hits. She said she played lead roles with almost superstar heroes including Asif Khan, Badar Munir, Tariq Shah, Bedar Bakht, Naimat Sarhadi and Jamil Babar.

Born in 1954 in Peshawar Jahangirpura, Suriya Khan said that she contributed to promotion of art whether film and stage in a time when it was unimaginable for girl of her age to step in the film industry.

Published in Dawn, May 28th, 2020