Ali Sufiyan Afaqi (22 August 1933 27 January 2015; sometimes spelled Sufyan Afaqi) was a Pakistani film producer, director, writer, and journalist. He made his debut in Lollywood films with his first ever Urdu film Thandi Sarak in 1957, and later contributed to other films as a writer and director, however he earned recognition as a film producer. He wrote about twenty-eight books on travel documentary and biographies, including Filmi Alif Laila, a book on the history of Pakistani cinema.
Ali Sufiyan Afaqi was born on 22 August 1933 as Ali Sufiyan in British India (in modern-day Sehore district of Bhopal, India). Following the Partition of India in 1947, he along with his family migrated to Pakistan and settled in Lahore. At the time of migration, he was fourteen. In 1951, he obtained a BA degree.
In 1951, he worked for an insurance company, and later joined newspapers where he used to write columns on various subjects. He first joined Daily Tasneem and Jamaat-e-Islami. He also worked at Chattan, a weekly newspaper established by Agha Shorish Kashmiri, and later worked at the Nawa-i-waqt Group. In later years, he joined Daily Afaq newspaper where he choose his last name "Afaq" and became known as Ali Sufiyan Afaqi. He wrote first-ever film review in Afaq newspaper and then chose it as a regular job. As an editor, he worked at Aqwam weekly and as joint editor at Daily Aasar. Following the 1958 Pakistani coup d'état, he left journalism and moved to film industry.
He first joined the Urdu cinema as a storywriter and later wrote dialogues for Aadmi and Ayyaz films. In 1965, he worked as a producer of Kaneez film. Prior to his association as a producer, he first worked in Thandi Sarak film as a storywriter. As a storywriter, producer and director, he produced Urdu language films such as Joker, Aaj Kal, Aasra Aik Hi Rasta and Shikwa among others. During a film festival held in Russia by the Tashkent International Film Festival selected his films such as Aas, Saiqa and Ajnabi and translated them into Russian language.
He was the recipient of eight Nigar Awards, six Graduate Awards and one Musawar Award and one Kartak Award.
He was suffering from health complications over the past few years and died in Lahore, Pakistan on 27 January 2015 of cancer.