Roohi Bano enjoyed a position among Pakistan’s most celebrated celebrities. She started her career with PTV and was a part of it for a long period. She was presented with the ‘Pride of Performance’ award.
The demise of her son and her time at Fountain House has not only been a tragedy for her but also for her fans. She passed away on 25th January, 2019 in Turkey.
Roohi Bano was given many brilliant performances for the Pakistani T.V. productions. She received many awards, including the ‘Niger award’ and the Pride of performance by PTV which she achieved only at the age of 35.
Soon after that she got married. But after the ‘pride of performance’ award she got bitter with the PTV as they, she believed, did not appreciate her work anymore and instead preferred working with fresher and younger faces.
She believed PTV is a good platform for the youth and she had her good share of it. She believed that the values and culture of PTV were being lost and faded, she believed if she ever got a chance of working for PTV’s administration, she would bring many changes and revolutionize it a bit. She wanted to reform it to the old PTV.
Her famous work that was aired during the color T.V. time includes; ‘Darwaza’, ‘Kaanch kay Phool’, ‘Zard gulab’and ‘Aadhay Chehrey’. Rohi’s mother listened to and shared her desire of becoming not just an actress but the most popular one.
Both the women took this passion of theirs very seriously. She always assisted and helped her whenever Roohi needed it. Roohi recalled that her mother took her to her first audition to a small studio of that time. There Dr. Anwar Sajjad auditioned her.
Her mom told him that she had just finished her Matric and had been freshly admitted to her college, (which happened to be the Lahore College for Women). Her mom explained that she was very enthusiastic and interested in the field of acting. Roohi always declared her mom’s prayers as the cause of her success and prosperity.
Roohi Bano always wanted to maintain an untouchable standard in acting, which when she looked back at her work; she thought she pretty much did. Roohi Bano believed that the glorious days of Roohi were still preserved and alive in the magnificent rooms of PTV.
She was and still is a source of inspiration for many. She is not concerned about the materialistic things such as money. She, on a lighter note said that PTV had trained her and her coworkers well to survive under hard and financially tight circumstances.
She was more on the meditative and soulful side. She believed that true happiness can only be found within our own selves. She said, “Money can’t buy happiness, it can only come from within. It is us who have to explore our happiness.”
From among the writers, she particularly liked Bano Qudsia, Ashfaq Ahmed, Munnu Bhai and Yunus Javed. She had special fondness for Bano Qudsia and Ashfaq Ahmed. She held them responsible for her personality and character building. She counted them as her friends, her parents and her everything.
