Aasia
Aasia Begum, better known as simply Aasia, was a Pakistani film actress who was active in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.
Early life
Aasia was born in 1951 as Firdous in Patiala, Punjab, India. She emigrated from India to Pakistan. She resided in New York after retiring from her career, where she died on 9 March 2013, aged 60.
Career
She made her debut in the Pakistani film industry in 1970 in a film by producer Shabab Kiranwi. In the same year, she also acted in director Riaz Shahid's movie Gharnata. Aasia acted in more than 179 Punjabi, and several Urdu films. Aasia is best remembered for her role of 'Mukkho' in the Punjabi film Maula Jatt. This role redefined the concept of 'Jatti' and 'Chaudhrani' in Pakistani Punjabi language films. In that film, she had based her Punjabi language accent on the Sargodha and Jhang accents.
She married a Karachi-based businessman, and they had four children together.
Death
Aasia quit the film industry in the mid-1990s, and had been residing in New York with her family. She had sought treatment for some health issue in 2011 at the Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi and then returned to New York. She died on 9 March 2013 in New York aged 60, from undisclosed causes.