Zia Mohyeddin (20 June 1931 â 13 February 2023) was a Pakistani and British actor, producer and television broadcaster who appeared in both Pakistani and British cinema throughout his career.
Mohyeddin became famous for his Pakistan Television talk show The Zia Mohyeddin Show (1969âÂÂ1973). He was also known for originating the role of Dr. Aziz in the stage play of A Passage to India. He also appeared in Lawrence of Arabia.
Zia Mohyeddin was born in Lyallpur, Punjab, British India (now Faisalabad, Pakistan) to a Punjabi family originally from Rohtak, Punjab, British India (now in Haryana, India). His father, Khadim Mohyeddin, was a mathematician, musicologist, playwright, and lyricist associated with various theatre groups.
Zia spent his early life in Lahore. He was trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London from 1953 to 1955. After stage roles in Long Day's Journey into Night and Julius Caesar, he made his West End debut as Dr. Aziz in A Passage to India on 20 April 1960 at the Comedy Theatre. The production continued for 302 performances. He reprised this role in the 1965 BBC television adaptation as well. He made his film debut in Lawrence of Arabia (1962), playing the role of Tafas (the Arab guide who is shot by Omar Sharif for drinking water from the wrong well). He then made numerous TV and film appearances. As an actor, he worked for nearly 47 years in the United Kingdom.
His first wife was Sarwar Zemani with whom he had two sons, Minos Ameer and Risha Ameen.
Mohyeddin returned to Pakistan in the late 1960s. Between 1969 and 1973, he hosted the popular television talk show The Zia Mohyeddin Show, best remembered for Mohyeddin's rap-style song segment, which he would introduce with his trademark phrase of "zara theka lagaiye". He was also appointed director of the PIA Arts Academy. Around this time, he met and subsequently married the renowned Kathak dancer Nahid Siddiqui. Together they had a son, the percussionist and music producer, Hassan "Moyo" Mohyeddin.
Following differences with the military regime of General Zia-ul-Haq, Mohyeddin returned to the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. During the 1980s Mohyeddin worked in Birmingham, UK, where he produced Central Television's flagship multicultural programme Here and Now (1986âÂÂ1989), a weekly magazine program. He also produced and starred in the first soap opera with a British Asian cast, Family Pride (1991âÂÂ1992).
While working in Britain in the 1980s, he was asked in an interview by a Pakistani news reporter whether he missed Pakistan. He replied that he did, that it was his home country, and that he missed his friends there and the people of Pakistan.
Mohyeddin then travelled the world giving Urdu poetry and prose recitations, as well as readings of English letters and literature. As a matter of practice, he emphasised that the metric structure of the entire poem must be studied by the reciter. He commented unfavourably on reciters who would habitually pause after every rhyming couplet, or "hammer" out the verses without regard for rhythm.
Mohyeddin married his third wife Azra Bano Zaidi in 1994. They had one daughter, Aaliya, who was born in 2002.
In February 2005, the then-president of Pakistan Pervez Musharraf invited Mohyeddin to form the National Academy of Performing Arts in Karachi, of which Mohyeddin was president since its inception.
Mohyeddin died on 13 February 2023, at the age of 91.