Pakistani actor (1942–2023)
Muhammad Qavi Khan (Urdu: محمد قوی خان; 13 November 1942 – 5 March 2023) was a Pakistani film, radio, theatre and television actor, director and playwright.
Khan acted in over 200 films and some 1,000 television plays.[1]
Khan is best known for his police drama serial Andhera Ujala, which launched him to stardom alongside his fellow actors Irfan Khoosat and Jameel Fakhri.[2] Some of his other notable works in television include roles in Khaani (2017) and Meri Shehzadi (2022–2023).[3]
He was also a playwright, having written the autobiographical one-man stage play Action and Reaction in 2011.[4]
In March 2011, Qavi Khan's achievements were honored at an event at the Pakistan National Council of the Arts auditorium in Islamabad.[5]
The Government of Pakistan honoured Khan with the Pride of Performance in 1980 and Sitara-e-Imtiaz in 2012 for his contribution to the field of arts.[6]
Khan was born on 13 November 1942 in Badaun, now located in India's Uttar Pradesh, to a father who was in the British Indian Army. Following the 1947 Partition of India, the family moved to Pakistan, settling down in Khokropar, Sindh, before moving to Peshawar, where they would live opposite the Mahabat Khan mosque. Khan would get his early education there and later work as a front desk officer in a Grindlays Bank branch before going to Lahore to pursue his passion of acting more seriously.[1]
Khan belonged to a Pashtun family of the Yusufzai tribe.[7]
He married in 1968 and had four children.[4]
In 1952, he began his career as a child artist by joining Radio Pakistan Peshawar.[8]
In 1961, he was cast in Dagha Baz, a play written by Envar Sajjad and directed by Kamal Ahmed Rizvi.[1]
In 1964, he started his television career by being the lead in PTV's first-ever play, Nazrana, in his career being part of some 1,000 serials.[1]
In 1966, he appeared in PTV's black-and-white hit drama Lakhon Main Teen (transl. Three in a million) along with Ali Ejaz and Athar Shah Khan Jaidi.[9]
In 1964, he worked in his first movie, Diljeet Mirza's Riwaj.[1]
In 1971, he started producing films, Mr Buddhu being the first of some 13 film productions, while he would eventually act in over 200 films.[1]
Khan died of cancer on 5 March 2023, at the age of 80 in Canada and was laid to rest at Meadowvale Cemetery, Brampton.[10][11]