Rafiq Ghaznavi

Rafiq Ghaznavi was music director, singer, hero and in the title role of first ever Punjabi film Heer Ranjha (1932).

His apposite (Heer) was actress Anwari Begum who became one of his wives. She was mother of actress Nasreen, who was mother of Salma Agha. He also married Zohra, and her daughter Shahina was an another actress. One of his daughter was married to famous director Zia Sarhadi, who was father of Khayyam Sarhadi, a famous TV actor and father of Zhalay Sarhadi.

Rafiq Ghaznavi began his film career as an actor in a silent film Sarfarosh (1930) which was made in Lahore. He was seen in two dozens films as an actor.

Rafiq Ghaznavi also composed music for many Bombay based movies in the 1930-40s. Sikandar (1941) and Laila Majnu (1945) were some of his big movies. His tones were also used in Hollywood movie The Theif of Baghdad (1940).

Rafiq Ghaznavi was born in 1907 in Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh, India, and died on March 2, 1974 in Karachi.