Hadiqa Kiani

Some Lesser Known Facts About Hadiqa Kiani

• Does Hadiqa Kiani smoke?: Not Known

• Does Hadiqa Kiani drink alcohol?: Not Known

• Her father lived until Hadiqa was just 3. She has, since then, lived with her mother, who was the Principal of a government school.

• Upon receiving her early education in the field of music from Madam Nargis Naheed, Hadiqa moved to Lahore when she was in the eighth standard and started getting training from Faiz Ahmed Khan and Wajid Ali Nashad.

• As an anchor on the children’s music program, ‘Angan Angan Taray,’ she, along with the co-hosts Amjad Bobby and Khalil Ahmed, sang over a thousand songs, for which she was presented with the title of ‘A+ Artist’ on behalf of PTV, in the early 1990s.

• Hadiqa gave her voice as a playback singer for the first time in a 1995 Pakistani film ‘Sargam,’ the music of which was composed by Adnan Sami and for her performance, she was honoured with the prestigious ‘Nigar Award’ for Best Playback Singer- Female.

• She received the ‘NTM Viewer’s Choice Award’ for Best Female Singer of Pakistan at an award show where Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was titled the Best Male Singer of Pakistan.

• After having lived as an engaged lady for two long years, she married Hammad in 1997. He was working as an animator on one of her videos in 1995. Right from the day one of marriage, things changed fast and she was forced to leave her career. The couple then lived a life of separation for nearly seven months, before getting divorced in 2003.

• She recorded Pepsi sponsored theme song for ICC Cricket World Cup 1999. The song was written by her mother, and composed and produced by Nizar Lalani.

• More than a million copies of her second album, ‘Roshni,’ were sold in Pakistan alone thus getting a ‘Platinum’ certificate. The album was positioned 15 in the list of ‘The 20 Best Local Pop Albums Ever.’

• In 2001, a Dutch-British transnational consumer goods company, ‘Unilever,’ signed her for the endorsement of Lipton and the following year for Sunsilk Shampoo’s endorsement.

• Her music video for the song ‘Mahi’ bagged her ‘Best Female Pop Singer Award’ that was conferred to her in 2004 by Indus Music, Pakistan’s first 24-hour music channel. The video featured her as a Vampire and gave a message that it’s harmful to judge people of different castes and faiths and to stereotype.

• The Government of Pakistan appointed her as an official representative of the nation in 2005, and since then, she has performed at several locations for the top notch politicians of a number of countries.

• She adopted a boy child from Edhi Foundation in 2005 after the disastrous earthquake that year which had killed more than 85,000 people and injured nearly 75,000.

• For her contribution to the field of music, the Government of Pakistan bestowed her with their fourth-highest civilian award, Tamgha-e-Imtiaz, in the year 2006.

• She was among the other renowned artists of Pakistan to be featured in ‘Yeh Hum Naheen,’ a music video which was released in 2007 and had a message that Pakistanis, just like the citizens of any other nation, oppose terrorism and that their image has been stereotyped.

• Hadiqa became first ever Pakistani woman to be a goodwill ambassador to the United Nations, when, in 2010, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) appointed her as their goodwill ambassador.

• Apart from Edhi Foundation, she has been actively involved with other charitable and humanitarian organisations, namely SOS Villages, Muslim Hands, UNICEF.

• With the launch of her cloth shop, ‘Hadiqa Kiani Fabric World,’ in 2013, she turned into an entrepreneur. The store features a collection of lawn and chiffon clothes.

• Along with Ali Zafar, she appeared on Geo TV’s telethon, a televised fundraising event, ‘Pukaar’ to appeal for donations.

• Daily Times (Pakistan) ranked her 15th in the list of 30 most celebrated Pakistanis who have brought a great deal of pride to the nation. Nobel Prize laureate, Malala Yousafzai, is on the chart as well.

• Nation’s leading newsgroup, ‘Jang Group of Newspapers,’ titled Hadiqa as one of the ‘Pakistan’s Most Powerful and Influential Women,’ in 2016.