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Salma Agha
Agha at an event in 2011
Born	(1954-10-29) 29 October 1954 (age 70) Karachi, Federal Capital Territory, Pakistan
Nationality	British
Occupation(s)	Singer, actress, producer
Years active	1974–present
Spouses	Jawed Sheikh ​ ​(m. 1981; div. 1987)​ Rahmat Khan ​ ​(m. 1989; div. 2010)​ Manzar Shah ​(m. 2011)​
Children	2, including Zara Khan
Relatives	Natasha Khan (stepdaughter) Rafiq Ghaznavi (grandfather)
Family	Agha–Khan family Kapoor family (through stepgrandfather) Khan squash family (through marriage)

Salma Agha (born 29 October 1954) is a British singer and actress who worked in Pakistani and Indian films in the 1980s and the early 1990s.

Early life

Salma Agha was born and raised in Karachi, Pakistan, to Liaqat Gul Agha and his wife Nasreen Agha. Liaqat Gul Agha was a tradesman dealing in rugs and belonged to an Urdu speaking Pathan family based in Amritsar. She traces the origin of her surname 'Aagha', "Her father (Liaqat Gul Tajik) traded in precious stones and antiques in Iran. He was given the title Aagha there, a kind of knighthood bestowed on a businessman of repute." Her mother Nasreen (born as Zarina Ghaznavi) was the daughter of Rafiq Ghaznavi, a Pashtun musician, and his wife Anwari Bai Begum, who was one of the earliest actresses of Indian cinema, starring in Heer Ranjha (1932). Anwari and Rafiq Ghaznavi separated after Nasreen's birth, and Anwari then married a rich Indian Hindu businessman named Jugal Kishore Mehra, who converted to Islam and took the name Ahmed Salman. Jugal Kishore Mehra was a first cousin of Bollywood actors Raj Kapoor, Shammi Kapoor and Shashi Kapoor of the Kapoor family, because their mother, Ramsarni Kapoor (née Mehra), was the sister of his father.

Career

Salma was born in Karachi and she started singing songs in school festivals and other programs but she was raised in London, where she received several film offers from Indian directors. Her first film was the romance Nikaah (1982), in which she starred as the female lead and also sang several of the film's songs herself. She was nominated for the Filmfare awards that year in both the Best Actress category and the Best Female Playback Singer category. It was for her singing that she won the Filmfare Best Female Playback Award. She is also known for her role in Kasam Paida Karne Wale Ki (1984) opposite Mithun Chakraborty, and for her song "Come Closer" from the same film.

Personal life

Salma Agha was in a relationship in the 1980s with London-based businessman Ayaz Sipra. This relationship lasted many years, during which time Salma made her film debut, but it did not develop into marriage. She has been married three times. Her first husband was Javed Sheikh in the 1980s. She was then married to the squash player Rahmat Khan of the Khan squash family (and the father of Natasha Khan through his first marriage) from 1989 to 2010 and they have two children together – Zara "Sasha" Agha Khan and Ali Agha Khan (Liaqat Ali Khan). In 2011, she married Manzar Shah, a Dubai-based businessman. She lives in Mumbai, where her daughter Zara works in Bollywood films. In January 2017, she was granted Overseas Citizenship of India status by the Indian government.

Filmography

Film

Indian films

Pakistani films

Discography

Awards and recognition

References

1. ^ "Salma Agha to get Overseas Citizen of India card". 30 May 2016.
2. Tribune.com.pk (30 September 2016). "Salma Agha: Of better days and celluloid". The Express Tribune. Retrieved 14 May 2019.
3. "Then and Now: 'Nikaah' actress Salma Agha - Bollywood celebs: Then and now". The Times of India. Retrieved 14 May 2019.
4. "Kareena Kapoor, Ranbir Kapoor to root for cousin Sasha Agha's Aurangzeb". daily.bhaskar.com. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
5. "Star of The Week-Kareena Kapoor". Rediff.com. 30 October 2002. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
6. Tribune.com.pk (18 November 2017). "My ex-wife Salma Agha stopped me from working with Rekha: Jawed Sheikh". The Express Tribune. Retrieved 14 May 2019.
7. Web Desk (25 May 2016). "Ten Pakistani actors who worked in Bollywood". The News Tribe. Archived from the original on 14 May 2019. Retrieved 14 May 2019.
8. "Salma Agha to get Overseas Citizen of India card". The Times of India (newspaper). Retrieved 18 June 2018.
9. Pakistani singer Salma Agha to get lifelong Indian visa Dawn (newspaper), Published 31 May 2016. Retrieved 18 June 2018
10. ^ "Filmfare's Pakistani connection". The News International. 6 June 2023.
11. "Pakistan's "Oscars"; The Nigar Awards". The Hot Spot Film Reviews website. Archived from the original on 22 July 2015. Retrieved 28 September 2022.

External links

• Salma Agha at IMDb
• FilmfareAwards Archived 12 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine
• Salma Agha to raise funds for Indian hockey – Times Of India

• India
• Bollywood

• Living people
• 1956 births
• Nigar Award winners
• Women ghazal singers
• Actresses from London
• Singers from London
• English film actresses
• English women singers
• English people of Pakistani descent
• Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom
• Filmfare Awards winners
• British expatriate actresses in India
• People with Overseas Citizenship of India
• European actresses in India
• Actresses in Hindi cinema
• Khan family (squash)
• 20th-century English actresses
• 20th-century English women singers
• Actresses in Punjabi cinema
• Urdu-language singers
• Urdu playback singers
• Punjabi-language singers
• Actresses in Urdu cinema
• Pakistani ghazal singers
• Hindi-language singers
• Indian women ghazal singers
• Actresses from Karachi
• Singers from Karachi
• Kapoor family
• Actresses from Mumbai
• Singers from Mumbai
• British people of Pashtun descent
• Muhajir people