Abdur Rashid Kardar

Kardar, who lived at Marine Drive, died at the age of 85, on 22 November 1989, in Mumbai, Maharashtra.

Film director Mehboob Khan's wife Sardar Akhtar was the sister of Bahar, Kardar's second wife. Kardar was the step-brother of Pakistan's famous cricketer A. H. Kardar (Abdul Hafeez Kardar). Abdur Rashid Kardar had six daughters including the youngest Yasmin Kardar who is the only one that lives in India and looks after the distribution rights of her father's films. The other five daughters are all married and live abroad. Kardar's oldest child was a son who died when he was three years old. His first wife Akhtar Sultana Kardar died in 1988.

Dastan (1950) a tragic melodrama, was inspired from the film Enchantment, and was cited as "one of the biggest commercial hits". Jadoo (1951) and Deewana (1952) marked the parting of ways between Kardar and Naushad. Dil-E-Nadaan (1953) had popular music by Ghulam Mohammed. He made three more films before starting Dil Diya Dard Liya (1966), which again had music by Naushad. Kardar's last film was Mere Sartaj (1975).

Recently some photographs by Life magazine's James Burke emerged which showed the prevalence of the casting couch in the Hindi Film Industry way back in the 1950s as well. Kardar was auditioning young women for roles in his films and the photographs showed the women posing in front of him in various stages of undress.

Following partition in 1947, A. R. Kardar and his brother-in-law Mehboob Khan both left for Pakistan. However, according to Bunny Reuben, as quoted by Mihir Bose, they returned to India, but no reason was given for their return.

Kardar went back to film making and directed Dard (1947), which starred Suraiya and had music by Naushad. Dillagi (1949), a romantic tragedy, was a commercial success at the box-office. Inspired by Wuthering Heights (1939), Kardar later used the plot in Dil Diya Dard Liya (1966). Dillagi's music by Naushad became extremely popular, especially Suraiya's song "Tu Mera Chand". Dulari (1949) had equally popular music, with a memorable Mohammed Rafi song "Suhani Raat Dhal Chuki". It starred Geeta Bali, Madhubala and Suresh (not Shyam as people mistakenly put his name). Suresh used to be a child artist and has acted in several films like Basant (starring Mumtaz Shanti, Ulhaas and baby Madhubala then).

He introduced many artists to the Hindi film industry who went on to become renowned in their own right, such as Naushad, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Suraiya and the actor/producer/director Nazir Ahmed Khan who migrated to Pakistan in 1947 and became one of the founders of the Pakistani film industry. The legendary singer Mohammad Rafi got his first hit from the song, 'Suhani raat dhal chuki' – from Kardar's film Dulari (1949). He also started the Kardar-Kolynos Contest, to find new talent and through this contest he discovered and introduced to the industry, Chand Usmani and Mahendra Kapoor.

In 1946, Kardar gave a commercially successful film with K. L. Saigal and composer Naushad, Shahjehan (1946). Claimed as a "masterpiece"- all songs of the film songs became hits.

Subsequently, he joined Ranjeet Movietone towards the end of 1937 and made only three movies with them. From here he moved to Circo Productions Ltd., but just one year later, in 1939, when Circo Productions Ltd. went into liquidation Kardar bought out the company and started Kardar Productions. In the same compound, he also started Kardar Studios and started making movies under the Kardar Productions banner from 1940 onwards. Kardar Studios was one of the best equipped studios in those days and also the first to have air-conditioned make up rooms. "During his long career, A. R. Kardar worked his way up the ladder from a poster-maker to a studio owner".

It is reported that the team working at the studios would commute on tangas and even lost equipment once while travelling on the bumpy roads on the horse-drawn carriage. However basic and crude their working conditions, Kardar believed in his work and in 1930 he produced the first film under the studio's banner.

Kardar shifted to Calcutta in 1930; and joined the East India Film Company, where he made about seven films for them. After the company closed down in 1937 he moved to Bombay and joined Film City (in Tardeo) where he made one film Baaghban. It won the Gohar Gold Medal starring Bimla Kumari, B. Nandrekar and Sitara Devi.

In 1928, the first silent film, The Daughters of Today was released in Lahore at a time when the city only had nine operational cinema houses. Most of the films shown in theatres in Lahore were either made in Bombay or Calcuta, besides ones made in Hollywood or London. The Daughters of Today was the brain-child of G.K. Mehta, a former officer with the North-Western Railway, who had imported a camera into the country for this very project from London. He asked Kardar to assist him as an assistant director on the project and ended up giving Kardar his début role in his film as an actor. Muhammad Ismail, his friend and fellow calligraphist, accompanied Kardar in the making of the film.

In 1928, with no work left after their maiden venture, Kardar and Ismail sold their belongings to set up a studio and production company under the name of United Players Corporation, the foundation stone for the film industry in Lahore. After scouting for locations, they settled for their offices to be established at Ravi Road. Although, the dim-lit area presented with much difficulties after the studios were established. Shootings were only possible in the day-light but nevertheless the area had some very important landmarks like the Ravi Forest and the tombs of Mughal emperor Jahangir and his wife Nur Jahan, the queen.

Kardar started as an arts scholar and a calligraphist making posters for foreign film productions and writing for newspapers of the early 1920s. His work would often lead him to meet filmmakers around India.

Abdur Rashid Kardar (1904–1989) was an Indian film actor, director and producer. He is credited with establishing the film industry in the Bhati Gate locality of Lahore, British India (now in Pakistan).