Salma Agha

Salma Agha was born on October 25, 1965 in Karachi. She  is a singer and actress of Bollywood & Lollywood. She sang as well as acted in Indian films in the 1980s and the early 1990s. Her first film was B.R Chopra’sNikaah for which she won the Filmfare Best Female Playback Award for the ghazal “Dil Ke Armaan Aasooome Beh Gaye”.
Salma is granddaughter of 30’s/40’s famous actor and actress Jugal Kishore Mehra And Anwar Begum who played the roles of the first ever made Heer Ranjha (1932). Salma Agha’s Mother Nasreen Being Born To a Star Pair Bagged the Lead with K.L. Saigal in A.K KARDAR’S Shahjahan A prized role of those times (1946) and Aik roz (1947). Nasreen was known to be one of the most beautiful faces in Asia. Salma’s entire family was settled in London.
Salma studied in London and for further studies went to Switzerland where her father Liaquat Gul Agha had a huge business of Persian Carpets and antiques as her father was from a highly respected and reputed family from Iran, known for trading all over the world. Salma’s family name from her father’s side is Tajik but the family was given the title of ‘Agha’ known as a Respected title in Iran and only given when highly reputed in the society. (The direct translation of ‘Agha’ is ‘Sir’). Salma claims to be an Indian since her maternal and paternal families were all born in India, although they’re all British Nationals.

When acclaimed Indian director Raj Kapoor was at the London reception of his son Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Singh’s wedding, he invited his cousin Nasreen Agha (Salma’s mother) to the reception, As Nasreen Aghas Father Jugal Kishore Mehra Was Raj Kapoor’s Uncle (mama). Present at the wedding were many prominent Indian directors, including B.R. Chopra. Chopra had just finished a female oriented hit with Zeenat Aman called Insaf Ka Tarazu. He had just commissioned a heroine-oriented movie called Talaq Talaq Talaq and was on the lookout for a Muslim actress. Zeenat Aman (even though half Muslim) he felt had a much too urban look to portray the character of Neelofar in his movie. Raj Kapoor too was on the lookout for a Muslim girl for his movie Heena. Soon Raj Kapoor nixed plans and went ahead with Prem Rog. Hearing that Chopra was looking for a Muslim girl, Salma flew to Bombay to meet him. Using her uncle Raj Kapoor’s connection, Salma was soon hired.

When the music directors heard Salma’s ABBA hits they signed her on to sing her own playback songs. The songs were a huge success even before the movie was released. The movie got stuck with the Islamic clerics who were to approve the movie before its release. They insisted on a name change and Chopra rechristened the movie Nikaah. The movie went on to be a huge success and is considered a classic. It is one of the strongest debuts for an actress and a huge vehicle for a newcomer. She earned a Filmfare nomination as Best Actress. In addition to winning the Filmfare Best Female Playback Award for the song “Dil Ke Armaan,” which was a great honour for salma being a newcomer since the nominees were Lata mangeshker and Asha Bhosle she also earned two Filmfare nominations: one for the song “Pyar Bhi Hai Jawan” and the other for the song “Dil Ki Yeh Arzo”.