Waheed Murad (Urdu: وحید مراد; 2 October 1938 – 23 November 1983), also known as Chocolate Hero,[3] was a Pakistani film actor, producer and script writer.
[12] Murad is the only actor of film industry to secure the highest number of platinum, diamond, golden and silver jubilees.
[13] He mesmerized Pakistani nation during 1960s and 1970s more than anyone before or after and is considered to be evergreen chocolate hero of Pakistan's silver screen history.
[14] In November 2010, 27 years after his death, the Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari posthumously awarded him the Sitara-e-Imtiaz, the third highest honour and civilian award by the State of Pakistan, given in the fields of literature, arts, sports, medicine, or science.
[15] [16] On 2 October 2019, Google celebrated Murad's 81st birthday with a doodle on its homepage for Pakistan, India and several other countries.
[24] Murad's ancestors had migrated from the Bahmani Sultanate in southern India to Kashmir and eventually settled in Sialkot in the 18th-century.
[26] In his second film as producer Jab se dakha hai tumhein he cast Darpan with Zeba as heroine.
The film broke all the box office records at that time and completed 75 weeks in theatres.
In 1967, he appeared as the leading actor in films like Devar Bhabi, Doraha, Insaaniyat and Maan baap.
From 1964 to 1968, Murad and Pervaiz Malik made Heera Aur Pathar, Armaan, Ehsaan, Doraha and Jahan tum wahan hum.
The combination of Waheed Murad, Pervaiz Malik, Masroor Anwar, Sohail Rana, Ahmed Rushdi and Zeba created a number of films.
Film Arts broke up and Pervaiz Malik started creating his own projects with new actors.
In his 25-year career, Murad paired with many actresses like Zeba, Shamim Ara, Rani, Naghma, Aaliya, Sangeeta, Kaveeta, Aasia, Shabnam, Deeba, Babra Sharif, Rukhsana, Bahar Begum and Neelo.
Other playback singers who provided voice for him were Mehdi Hassan, Masood Rana, Saleem Raza, Akhlaq Ahmed, Mujeeb Aalam, Asad Amanat Ali Khan, Bashir Ahmad, Ustad Amanat Ali Khan and A Nayyar.
In August 2018, Coke Studio produced a remake of Ahmed Rushdi's first South Asian pop song "Ko Ko Korina", originally lip-sync by Waheed Murad in the 1966 film Armaan, in the voices of Mustehsan and Ahad Raza Mir.
Pervaiz Malik wrote in a local newspaper: "Not even once during that time [did] Waheed come to me seeking work in my films.
Waheed appeared old and charmless in Dil ney phir yaad keya and Ghairao.
[1][30] Babra Sharif, revealed that during the filming of a scene of Hero, Waheed lost his balance while walking toward her and fell down.
He was going to Karachi to get the scar fixed to complete the last few scenes of Hero when he met the chief editor, Ilyas Rasheedi, of the film magazine 'Nigar' at the airport.
Rasheedi wrote in his magazine: By chance a famous film producer was also present in the waiting area and Waheed put him on the spot by asking if he had a role for him for Javed Sheikh's father in his movie.