Riaz Shahid

Who was Riaz Shahid?

Riaz Shahid was a noted Pakistani filmmaker, film writer, and journalist. His real name was Sheikh Riaz, but was called by his nickname Shahid. He was educated at Islamia College, Lahore. Riaz lived in Lahore where he started his career as a journalist for newspaper Chataan and later joined Faiz Ahmed Faiz's Lail-o-Nihar. He also wrote a novel named Hazar Dastaan. He was educated at Islamia College, Lahore.

In 1962, Riaz started his film career as a director for the film Susraal. From this point onwards, he went on to direct several hits like Zarqa, Shaheed, Farangi, and Yeh Aman.

Riaz Shahid was married to then famous actress Neelo and had three children. The first child their daughter was named Zarqa followed by two sons Shaan, who is now a well known Pakistani film actor and Sarosh, who also worked in a couple of Pakistani movies.

Riaz died of leukemia in 1972.