Anwar Maqsood Height, Age, Wife, Children, Family, Biography

Some Lesser Known Facts About Anwar Maqsood

• Anwar Maqsood moved to Karachi, Pakistan in 1948 after the India-Pakistan partition. He moved to Pakistan with his nine siblings, his parents, maternal grandparents, and maternal great-grandmother.

• They had a life full of poverty during their initial years in Pakistan and they used to set up lanterns every evening as they couldn’t afford electricity.

• Anwar Maqsood was raised by his parents in a poor joint family.

• His family was full of literate people and they carried 65 boxes full of books when they moved to Pakistan from India and Anwar Maqsood’s maternal grandfather was a poet who instilled the habit of reading in Anwar and his siblings.

• During his childhood days, he used to draw sketches of his grandparents by using a charcoal piece on the wall of his home in Pakistan.

• The Pakistani artist Shakir Ali was a family friend of Anwar. One day, he came to Anwar’s house and saw one of his sketches and was impressed by the art.

• In 1958, Shakir Ali gifted all the painting equipment to Anwar Maqsood as he couldn’t afford it and that’s how his journey as a painter began.

• In the same year, Anwar Maqsood displayed his first painting exhibition and all his paintings were purchased by the Pakistani diplomat Jamsheed Marker.
  

  Anwar Maqsood arranging his paintings at an exhibition

• Before entering into the entertainment industry, Anwar Maqsood worked as a lawyer.

• Anwar’s first job was in a bank named United Bank Limited in Pakistan for a little while before entering the entertainment field. However, he ran away from his work one day as he no longer wanted to spend another day in that kind of job.

When Anwar Maqsood was a banker!😊
Happy Birthday to the most amazing band mate!🎈#StringsPakistan #AnwarMaqsood #HappyBirthdayAnwarMaqsood #BilalMaqsood #FaisalKapadia pic.twitter.com/IbuXvRx7lq

— Strings (@stringsonline) September 7, 2019

• Anwar Masood learnt the Urdu language for six years from the Urdu poet Makhdoom Mohiuddin.

• Before making his way in the entertainment industry, he used to make cufflinks and ties and sell them in Saddar bazaar to earn some money.

• Anwar Maqsood was offered a job at a music company named EMI Pakistan. He was made in charge of all the studio recordings and he was one of the people who helped the company in launching their first recording. Anwar Maqsood helped in launching many Pakistani artists and one of them was Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.

• He began his career as a writer in the 1960s by writing satirical columns for the daily newspaper ‘Daily Jang’ in Karachi.

• He was a close friend of the Pakistani actor Zia Mohyeddin and one day, the actor asked Anwar to write the script for the last thirteen episodes of the ‘Zia Mohiyuddin Show’ (1969).
  

  Anwar Maqsood with the Pakistani actor Zia Mohyeddin (left)

• Anwar was told to write in a way how he talked to Zia Mohyedding face to face. That’s how he started writing scripts.

• Anwar Maqsood has written scripts for many Pakistani shows including ‘Fifty Fifty’ (1978), ‘Dour-e-Junoon’ (1983), ‘Aangan Terha’ (1984), ‘Sitara Aur Mehrunissa’ (1992), and ‘Iss Tarah To Hota Hai.’
  

  The poster of the Pakistani TV drama series titled ‘Fifty Fifty’ (1978) which was written by Anwar Maqsood

• In 2002, Anwar Maqsood created, wrote, and starred in the Pakistani TV comedy show titled ‘Loose Talk’ which was broadcast on ARY Digital channel. This satire-comedy talk show was loosely inspired by BBC World Service’s HARDTalk.
  

  Anwar Maqsood in a still from his TV show titled ‘Loose Talk’ (2002)

• Anwar Maqsood has written lyrics for many Pakistani songs including ‘Dil Dil Pakistan,’ ‘Tum Hi Se Aye Mujahido,’ ‘Jazba-e-Junoon,’ ‘Us Rah Par,’ and ‘Meri Zaat Zarra-e-Benishan.’

• During his young days, Anwar Maqsood along with his wife and sisters used to model for his sister Sughra Kazmi’s designed clothes.
  

  Anwar Maqsood (right, standing) with his wife (standing, left) and sisters during a modelling shoot for Anwar’s sister’s clothing brand

• In 2006, Anwar Maqsood wrote the lyrics for the Hindi song titled ‘Har Saans’ in the Indian Hindi action film titled ‘Zinda.’

• In 2007, Anwar Maqsood wrote the lyrics for the Hindi song titled ‘Aakhri Alvidaa’ in the Indian Hindi action thriller film titled ‘Shootout at Lokhandwala.’

• He has also collaborated with many renowned musicians including Vital Signs, Junaid Jamshed, and Alamgir.

• In 2015, Anwar Maqsood recited his writing in the Pakistani song titled ‘Chiryan Da Chamba’ which was sung by the singer Suraiya Khanum in season 8 of Coke Studio.
  

  Anwar Maqsood in a still from the Pakistani song titled ‘Chiryan Da Chamba’ in season 8 of Coke Studio (2015)

• In 2020, Anwar Maqsood made an announcement publicly that he had stopped writing for television dramas and was quoted saying in an interview that
  

  Now, there is no drama. Now, I just analyze the names of dramas and commercials being aired on television. On Thursday night at 8:30 pm Tum Meray Paas ho, on Thursday night at 11 pm Mujhe Beta Chahiye, at 12 Namumkin, at 12:30 pm Cheekh, double episodes. Now, after seeing such names, how can I write?”

• Anwar Maqsood has written many Urdu poetries in his life and some of them include ‘Zindagi,’ ‘Parchaiyan,’ and ‘Saawan.’

• Anwar Maqsood worked as a director and presenter at ARY TV for almost 15 years.

• Anwar Maqsood has written many drama stage plays some of which include ‘Yeh Kahan Ki Dosti Hai’ (1988), ‘Anwar Maqsood ka Dharna’ (2014), ‘Siachen’ (2015), and ‘Saadhay 14 August’ (2022).
  

  The poster of the drama play titled ‘Anwar Maqsood Ka Dharna’ (2014) which was written by Anwar Maqsood