LAHORE: Habib, one of the highest ranking artistes of film industry, passed away here on Thursday. He was 76.

Habib (Habibur Rehman) had suffered brain haemorrhage a week and was admitted to the Ittefaq Hospital where he breathed his last in the wee hours of Thursday.

Funeral prayers for him were held at a mosque of the Airline Society, near Shaukat Khanum Hospital. Qul will be held at the same mosque after Asr prayers on Friday (today).

Habib, a jewel of Pakistani cinema’s golden era, had performed in over 600 Urdu and Punjabi movies, according to his own account, but not many folks from the silver screen attended his last rites. The few from the celluloid world present there were Syed Noor, film director Altaf Hussain and singers Shaukat Ali and Anwar Rafi.

In an interview to a magazine, Habib had said, “I belong to an Arain family. My father was in railways. We used to live in Patiala. After partition, our family migrated to Gujranwala”. In another interview to a TV channel in 2014, Habib said he was 74 years old, which makes his year of birth 1940.

Habib did his matriculation from the Islamia School, College Road, Gujranwala. He had got three master’s degrees in English Literature, Urdu and Persian. He did MA English Literature from the MAO College.

“I learnt typing and shorthand and did odd jobs in irrigation and civil defence departments,” he said.

The legendary actor joined film industry by chance. In 1958, he went to Pancholi Studios, Upper Mall, with his friends to see the shooting of the film Lakht-i-Jigar, directed by Luqman who was taking auditions of boys for a supporting role in the film. Habib also gave audition and was selected for the role.

With the signing of his debut film Lakht-i-Jigar, he also inked a contract with Agha Sajjad Gul of Rs500 per month on the condition that he would not do films by any other producer for next two years.

Habib said, in the TV interview, that he had worked in 600 films of which around 200 were with Naghma who became his second wife. “My first wife had died. Then I married Naghma.” He separated from Naghma later on. Shaheen Habib was his third wife with whom he lived for 36 years until his death. He had also performed in a Bengali film in East Pakistan.

Habib produced six films, namely Zinda Laash, Buzdil, Haar Gaya Insan, Mera Naam Raja, Qatil and Baghi. He performed in 43 TV serials, including Rahain, his most popular TV serial from Lahore.

His popular Urdu films include Zehr-e-Ishq (1958), Ayyaz (1960), Surayya (1961), Saperan (1961), Aulad (1962), Mehtab, Maa Ke Aansoo, Khandan, Aashiyana (1964), Fashion, Dil Ke Tukrey, Basheera (1972), Eid Mubarak (1965), Dil Aur Dunya and Haar Geya Insaan .

Among his prominent Punjabi films were Mouj Mela (1963), Jeedar (1965), Dil Da Jani (1967),Yaar Maar, Babul Da Wehra (1968), Chann Makhna (1968), Do Mutyaran (1968), Chan Veer (1969), Mukhra Chan Warga and Att Khuda Da Vair (1970).

He is survived by five daughters and two sons.

During his film career, Habib won two Nigar Awards for films, Adami and Suriya, and was also given Lifetime Achievement Award. He won Pride of Performance as well.

Published in Dawn, February 26th, 2016