Khayyam Sarhadi

Khayyam Sarhadi (12 June 1948 – 3 February 2011; born as Khayyam Sethi) was a Pakistani film and television actor and a radio personality.^[1]

Khayyam Sarhadi
خیام سرحدی
Born	12 June 1948 Bombay, India
Died	3 February 2011(2011-02-03) (aged 62) Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan
Nationality	Pakistani
Occupation(s)	Actor, Television personality, Radio personality
Spouse(s)	Saiqa (wife till his death) Atiya Sharaf (divorced)
Children	4 daughters
Parent(s)	Zia Sarhadi (father) Zahira Ghaznavi (mother)
Relatives	Rafiq Ghaznavi (grandfather) Zhalay Sarhadi (niece)
Awards	Pride of Performance Award by the President of Pakistan in 1991

Early life and education

Khayyam Sarhadi was born to a Muslim family on 12 June 1948 in Bombay, in the home of parents Zia Sarhadi and Zahira Ghaznavi and grew up there.^[2] Later he moved to Karachi, Pakistan and stayed there for some time and later moved to Lahore, Pakistan.

His maternal grandfather, Rafiq Ghaznavi, was a well-known musician and since both his parents were writers, he was into showbiz from an early age. Khayyam travelled to the United States where he got his master's degree in cinematography, following which he travelled through Europe making documentaries.^[1] He also had a master's degree in English literature and Fine Arts.^[1]

Personal life

Khayyam Sarhadi was married to a TV actress Atiya Sharaf. Later, the couple divorced and he married a film actress Saiqa. He had four daughters.

He was the uncle of a model and actress Zhalay Sarhadi.^[3]

Career

In the 1970s, after the death of his mother, Khayyam Sarhadi returned to Pakistan.^[1] In Pakistan, Sarhadi started his career from acting and directing theatre plays and later started working in TV dramas with Pakistan Television Corporation (PTV) where he was spotted and picked up by noted PTV producer Yawar Hayat Khan.^[1] Since then he had worked in hundreds of TV dramas and also directed a few of them. He also worked in some films. His scripts were made in Roman letters because he couldn't read Urdu well.^[1][2]

Death and legacy

Khayyam Sarhadi died of a sudden heart attack during the shooting of a TV drama serial on 3 February 2011 at the age of 62 in Lahore. His funeral was held at his residence in Defence Housing Authority, Lahore.^[3][2]

After his death, veteran Pakistani actor/director Jawed Sheikh paid tributes to him by saying that he had worked together with him and remembers Sarhadi as a versatile actor and fun to be with.^[1]

Selected filmography

Films

Year	Title	Role	Language	Notes
1980	The Blood of Hussain	Policeman[1]	English	Film debut
1981	Manzil		Urdu	Supporting role
	Qurbani			Guest appareance
1998	Jinnah	Sardar Abdul Rab Nishtar[1]	English	Supporting role
2011	Bol	Suleiman Dogar	Urdu

Television series

Year	Title	Role	Channel	Ref
1979	Waris		PTV	[2]
1982	Laazawal			[4][5]
1986	Sooraj Kay Saath Saath			[6][2]
1989	Neelay Hath	Rashid
1990	Mann Chalay Ka Sauda	Irshad		[1][2]
1994	Angar Wadi	Maulvi Mushtaq		[1]
1998	Ghulam Gardish			[1]
2006	Makan	Nawaz Ali	Geo TV
	Manzil	Sajjad Khan	ARY TV
	Taqdeer		PTV Home	[7]
2009	Meri Zaat Zarra-e-Benishan	Qasim Abbas	Geo TV	[1]
2010	Dastaan	Jameela's husband	Hum TV	[1]
	Parsa	Irfan		[1]
	Dil-e-Abad
2011	Anokha Ladla		PTV Home	[2]

Awards

• Pride of Performance Award (1991) from the President of Pakistan^[1]
• Nigar Award
• PTV National Award