LAHORE, Oct 11: Badar Munir, a film actor popular during the 1970s and ’80s, died in Lahore on Saturday. He was 70.

He had acted in 416 Pushto, Urdu and Punjabi films during a career spanning three decades.

He had been suffering from kidney and diabetes problems for the past five years. A few years ago, he had suffered a paralysis attack. He was hospitalised two days ago after a heart attack, but died on Saturday morning.

Born in Swat, Badar was raised in a religious environment. After completing his elementary education, he left Swat and started his professional career as a rickshaw driver. As he was fond of films, he managed to get a job as a light-man in a film studio in Karachi.

In 1970, a group decided to make a Pushto film and Badar was given a chance on the request of actor Waheed Murad. He was cast as a hero in the film ‘Yousaf Khan Shehar Bano’, with Yasmeen Khan as heroine. The film received a good response and marked the beginning of the Pushto film industry.

Badar signed 10 more films after the success of his maiden film and played a major role in the promotion of Pushto films.

In the beginning he did only Pushto films because he spoke only that language.

In 1972, he also started working in Urdu films. His first Urdu film was ‘Jahaan Baraf Girti Hai’. He acted in many Urdu and Punjabi films. His Urdu film ‘Dulhan Aik Raat Ki’ made him well known all over the country and the film did a record business.

After this, Badar worked in a number of Urdu films. Prominent among them were ‘Dushmani’, ‘Cheekh’, and ‘Multan Khan’. His first Punjabi film was ‘Teen Badshah’. He was well known as an action hero in Pushto films and did stunts himself.

He had two wives. From his first marriage, he had two sons and three daughters. From the second, he had three sons. Two of his sons, Saeed Munir and Dilbar Munir, tried their luck in films but could not make a mark.