KARACHI, April 4: Renowned television and radio artist Anwar Solangi died after a long illness at the Civil Hospital in the early hours of Friday. He was 64.

With about 500 plays in both Urdu and Sindhi, as well as a dozen Sindhi films, to his credit, Solangi was twice awarded PTV awards for best actor and best supporting actor.

Amongst the most popular plays he worked in were ‘Chhoti Si Duniya’, ‘Rani Jo Kahani’, ‘Jungle’, ‘Hawain’, ‘Dewarain’ and ‘Marvi’.

He also acted in the Urdu film Khwahish and wrote a book which comprised a compilation of poems and short stories written by him.

Born in Shahdadpur, Solangi had a penchant for acting right from childhood and started exploring his histrionic skills on the theatre stage at a very early age. He began his career as a Radio Pakistan drama artist and anchorperson in the 1960s and later joined PTV, where he acted in a number of plays. The first of these was the Sindhi-language ‘Inquiry Officer’ and his lucky break came with ‘Dewarain’ in which he played the role of Makhan Khan.

As is the case with many Pakistani artists, however, Solangi’s career was overshadowed by financial troubles and he often had a hard time making ends meet. He was regularised as an anchorperson at the Hyderabad radio station during Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s government but was later removed from the post by the subsequent Ziaul Haq regime. Until his death, Anwar Solangi lived in a rented house on the day-to-day payments made to him whenever he could find work.

Buried at the Sakhi Khan graveyard on Friday, the artist leaves a wife, two daughters and a four-year-old son.