Senior actor Mumtaz Ali Shah passes away in Peshawar

F.P. Report

PESHAWAR: Veteran television actor Syed Mumtaz Ali Shah Bacha breathed his last in Peshawar on Wednesday. Mumtaz Ali Shah, who acted in more than 100 Pashto and Urdu dramas.

His Namaz-i-Janaza will be offered in Peshawar later Wednesday.  Performance in Pashto play Aasman and Jaana took Mumtaz Ali Khan at the peak of his acting career. 

He joined Pakistan Radio in 1948 and made a mark in radio plays due to his impressive dialogue delivery. Mumtaz Ali Shah had received Nishan-i-Imtiaz in 2006. Mumtaz was born in 1930 in Speenwa Warrai village of Peshawar.

He did his matric from the historic Islamia Collegiate School Peshawar in 1948. One of his relatives took him to Radio Pakistan, Peshawar as he was working as an audio engineer after audition he was offered a two-line dialogue in a Pashto drama and it proved a turning point in his acting career.

Mr Shah had become a household name as his acting career is spanned over 50 years.

Three years ago during a drama shoot, he fell down and developed pain in his back and got bedridden ever since.

Recipient of numerous awards, Mr Shah has played lead roles in around 1,500 radio, TV, theatre Pashto and Urdu plays and also a major role in a Pashto film ‘Mafroo’ released in early 80s. Retired from government works department, he has a collection of unpublished Pashto poems.

Mr Shah’s voice quality, performance range and facial expressions made him a popular drama name. He said that his fans had showered on him almost every kind of award, commendation certificate and shield and that alone served him to live a satisfying life.

He had once said that so many facilities in the modern hi-tech age rolled out the spirit of art from the artists where feelings and emotions were reduced to robotics and script being empty words.