Google commemorates 81st Birthday of Waheed Murad with Doodle

Waheed Murad, also known as Chocolate Hero, was a Pakistani film actor, producer and script writer. Murad has influenced the film industry in the subcontinent.

Waheed Murad started his film career by joining his father's established 'Film Art' in 1961 as producer of the film Insaan badalta hai. In his second film as producer Jab se dakha hai tumhein he cast Darpan with Zeba as heroine. Afterwards, Darpan most of the time started coming late at studio. Zeba suggested Waheed to cast himself as hero in his next film. Waheed was not ready to sign himself in his own movies. But when the same suggestion came from his old good friend Pervaiz Malik, he accepted it on the condition that if Zeba would be his co-star, Zeba accepted in return (according to Zeba). As a result, he firstly appeared in a supporting role in 1962's Aulad. The film was directed by his friend S.M. Yousuf. Aulad got much more acclaims from critics, and it also got the Nigar award in the best film's category for the year. Heera aur pathar was his first movie as a leading actor. He got the Nigar award in the best actor category for the same film.

In 1966, he produced and acted in Armaan. The film broke all the box office records at that time and completed 75 weeks in theatres. The film were sung by Ahmed Rushdi. Murad received two Nigar awards for the categories best producer and best actor for the film.

In 1967, he appeared as the leading actor in films like Devar bhabi, Doraha, Insaaniyat and Maan baap. From 1964 to 1968, Murad and Pervaiz Malik made Heera Aur Pathar, Armaan, Ehsaan, Doraha and Jahan tum wahan hum. The combination of Waheed Murad, Pervaiz Malik, Masroor Anwar, Sohail Rana, Ahmed Rushdi and Zeba created a number of films. Waheed Murad brought Malik, Anwar and Rana under the umbrella of 'Film Arts'. Film Arts broke up and Pervaiz Malik started creating his own projects with new actors. A total of seven films, including two films, i.e., Usey dekha usey chaha and Dushman released after a long gap of 6 years in 1974, were produced with the combination of Waheed and Pervaiz (but not under 'Film Art' Production).

In 1969, Waheed produced, wrote and directed the movie Ishaara. It was released in 1969. Other co-stars included Shabnam, Aliya, Talish and Mustafa Qureshi. Murad received a Nigar award in the best actor category for the film.

In his 25-year career, Murad paired with many actresses like Zeba, Shamim Ara, Rani, Naghma, Aaliya, Sangeeta, Kaveeta, Aasia, Shabnam, Deeba, Babra Sharif, Rukhsana, Bahar and Neelo. He acted in a total of 124 films (two were released after his death), of which 38 were black and white and 86 were in colour. He also appeared in six films as a guest star including his first and shortest appearance in 1959's Saathi. He acted in 115 Urdu films, 8 Punjabi films and 1 Pushto film, and earned 32 film awards including ones for best producer and for best actor.

Murad’s acting style has the legacy of being taught in Indian and Pakistani film institutions. He is considered as one of the pioneering Rock n’ Roll stars of Pakistan. His fans term him as the cultural icon of the Pakistani Film Industry.