Ragni

Ragni was a top film heroine in Lahore based films in the 1940s. She was introduced in film Dulla Bhatti in 1940 and appeared in many Punjabi and Hindi/Urdu films.

She also worked in few Bombay based films and set a record for the highest fee by any heroine when she charged Rs 50,000 for film Shah Jehan (1946). Ragni played the role of Mumtaz Mehal. Her famous film Neik Parveen (1946) was made in Lahore by a Bombay film crew, lead by director S.M. Yousuf.

After partition, Ragni produced and acted in film Beqarar in 1950 with her second husband S. Gul. Noukar in 1955 was one of her big film and her portrayal of Dil Aram in Anarkali (1958) earned her a lot of appreciation.

Ragni played character roles in Bedari (1958), Naela (1965), Lado (1966), Taj Mahal (1958), Sheran di Jori (1969), Charhda Suraj (1970) and some other films.

Ragni was born in Gujranwala in 1923 as Shamshad Begum. Her mother was a Muslim woman and father was a Hindu landlord. She died on February 27, 2007 at Lahore.