Lahore: Prominent Pakistani film actor Mohammad Ali died of cardiac arrest at noon on Sunday in Lahore.
He was 78. He had been suffering from a heart problem for which he had to undergo two surgeries.
Ali and his wife, former super star Zeba, had been leading an isolated life at his Gulberg residence in Lahore for the last 15 years.
He featured in more than 300 Urdu and Punjab movies in lead roles and was an icon of the Pakistani film industry.
The first superstar of Lollywood, Ali was also the first Pakistani actor who had a massive fan following.
Popularly known as Ali bhai, he started his career at Radio Pakistan Karachi, in the early 1960s.
His debut film was Charagh Jalta Raha (1962).
The versatile actor's another popular film was Shararat (1964) and his performance in Aag Ka Darya is considered unforgettable.
Known in film circles for his abilities as a passionate actor, he felt at ease in dramatic situations as well.
Ali, who has worked with almost all successful directors of the Pakistan film industry, also produced and directed a number of hit movies.
Family sources said Ali's body has been sent to the mortuary of the Sharif Medical Complex, owned by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif. The body will be kept there until Tuesday, when Zeba's daughter, Samina, from the actress's previous marriage to actor Lala Sudhir, returns from the United States.
Samina and her children were the centre of Ali's life, who had given his stepdaughter the name Samina Mohammad Ali and loved her as if she was his own child.
After his retirement from the film industry almost 15 years ago, Ali was asked in a television show about reasons for his dissociation from the film industry.
"The atmosphere in which I was accustomed to work for films and the way films were made have entirely changed, hence I called it quits" was his reply.
Pakistani Information Minister Shaikh Rashid Ahmad said the actor was the honour and the pride of the Pakistani film industry.
"Mohammad Ali was a generous person who had always worked for the betterment of the film industry and the welfare of humanity. He was also a social and political worker who remained involved in social welfare activities till his death.
"Ali was a man who felt the pain of others and was always ready to help the needy. It was Ali's desire that the film industry of Pakistan should flourish and progress and he wanted the industry to move on the road of progress and prosperity for which he did a lot of work," he said.
"Today, the Pakistani film industry has lost a great actor as well as human being," said famous film and stage actor Omar Sharif.
