Hello Guyz,
I am translating Suraiya's article which appeared in Urdu Magazine Surguzasht, which has some rare information. Writer is Ali Sufian Afaqi (film maker/script writer of Pakistan). I am only translating those bits which has some relevant rare information (my comments are mentioned in brackets).
Place of Birth
Suraiya was born on 15th June 1929 in Gujranwala, and not in Lahore as is popularly believed. Suraiya spent her childhood in Lahore, that is why most writers label her place of birth as Lahore which is not correct.
Suraiya's Father
Suraiya's father had small furniture shop in Gujranwala, later he moved to Lahore and Suraiya was taken to Bombay on the request of her mom, maternal grandmother and uncle. No one heard of Suraiya's father again after that time [Who was Suraiya's father anywayz?What was his name? There is hardly any info on him]
Suraiya's Mother
Suraiya's life, money etc were controlled by her Mom, Nani and Mamo. All important decisions were made by them. They didn't let her marry Dev Anand, and Suraiya never forgave her family because of this. It is a well-known fact that when Suraiya's mother got sick, Suraiya never took care of her. Suraiya's mom died in charity hospital in miserable condition, but she didn't even spend a penny on her Mom's treatment. From this incident, you can imagine Suraiya fire of hatred and revenge for her family.
Mirza Ghalib
Mirza Ghalib (1954) ran into trouble with Censor Board because Suraiya's body parts and figure got exposed in Medieval dresses. Somehow Nehru also heard about this trouble, and he saw a special show of Mirza Ghalib along with Suraiya, Sohrab Modi, and Mohammed Rafi. Nehru praised Suraiya for her performance in Mirza Ghalib, and asked the Censor Board to clear the film from Censors.
Ummer.