Aasia

Aasia Begum, better known as Aasia, (born 1952 – died 9 March 2013) was a Pakistani film actress who was active in the 1970s and 1980s in the film industry. She was given major roles by many directors. She was born in 1952 as Firdous in Punjab, India. She emigrated from India to Pakistan. She resided in Canada after retiring from her career, where she died on 9 March 2013, aged 61.

She had made her debut in the Pakistani film industry in 1970. She was introduced to Lollywood by film director Riaz Shahid in his movie, Gharnata (1970). She acted in more than 179 Punjabi movies. She starred in several Urdu and Punjabi films. Aasia shot to fame after playing the iconic role of 'Makhoo' in the Punjabi super-hit film Maula Jatt (1979). This role made her truly a star because it redefined the concept of 'Jatti' and 'Chaudhrani' in Pakistani Punjabi language films. Film actress Anjuman said that she modeled herself after her role in that film. Aasia had adopted her Punjabi language accent for film Maula Jatt (1979) based on people's accent from Sargodha and Jhang areas of Punjab.

She had won 2 Nigar Awards- first for Best Actress in film Qanoon in 1977 and for Best Supporting Actress in film Aag in 1979.

She had married a Karachi-based businessman, and they had four children together.

Aasia had long been living in Canada. Aasia ended her film career in the mid 1990s, and had been residing in Canada with her husband and four children. She never tried to rejoin the film industry once she quit it. Although she had travelled back to Karachi a couple years before she died for treatment of her illness at Agha Khan Hospital. She died on 9 March 2013 in Canada aged 61, from undisclosed causes. She was survived by her husband and four children.