Shamim Ara was born in 1938, in Aligarh, India and died on Aug 5, 2016, in London.
She was a Pakistani film actress, film director and film producer.
Her birth name was Putli Bai but later adopted the film name, Shamim Ara.
Ara’s acting career spans from the late 1950s till the early 1970s.
Shamim was mostly known for her leading role in the then West Pakistan’s first color motion picture Naila (1965), released on 29 October 1965, whereas the first full-length color motion picture was Sangam (1964) which was produced in the then East Pakistan and released on April 23, 1964.
Ara produced her first film Saiqa (in 1968) which was based on the novel of Razia Butt.
Her film attracted a large number of viewers especially females.
During 1976, for the first time, Shamim directed film Jeo Aur Jeenay Do (1976).
And, later Ara also directed a highly successful movie at the box-office, a Diamond Jubilee film Munda Bigra Jaye (1995).
Ara was a resident of Lahore, Pakistan until she was taken ill in 2010.
Sardar Rind was her first husband, a landlord of Balochistan, who later died in a car accident.
Her second marriage was to Fareed Ahmed, a film director and a son of renowned film director W.Z Ahmed [film Waada (1957) and film Roohi (1954)] fame, but this marriage soon ended in divorce.
Shamim Ara is now married to a Pakistani film director Dabeer Hussain and they were living in Lahore, Pakistan until 2010 when she was taken ill and was taken to London for treatment.
Reportedly, Shamim Ara had a brain hemorrhage in 2010 and was taken to London for treatment by her family and is still in a coma as of 2014.
Ara son Salman Iqbal looked after her while she is in the hospital.
She died from Coma in a hospital in London after a long illness.
Shamim Ara passed away at 78 years old.