Biography of Mustansar Hussain Tarar

Born:  1st March 1939

From: Lahore Pakistan

Mustansar Hussain Tarar is a Pakistani author, actor, former radio show host, and compere.

As a young boy he witnessed the partition of India and the events that took place at Lahore. His father, Rehmat Khan Tarar, operated a small seed store by the name of "Kisan & co" that developed to become a major business in that sphere.

Tarar was educated at Rang Mehal Mission High School and Muslim Model High School, both in Lahore. He did further studies at the Government College, Lahore and in London. While abroad he spent much of his time in watching movies, doing theater and reading books. In 1957, he attended the World Youth Festival in Moscow and wrote a book named Fakhta which was based on that experience.

His first book was Nikley Teri Talaash Main, dedicated to his youngest brother,Mobashir Hussain Tarar, a travelogue of Europe published in 1971. This followed a period during which he travelled in seventeen European countries, and it led to new trend in Urdu literature. As Safar Nama, he has so far over forty titles to his credit. These span many genres, including travelogues, novels, short stories and collections of his newspaper columns and television dramas.

He also became a television actor and from 1988 was for many years a host of PTV's live morning transmission Subuh Bakhair (Good Morning). His unconventional and down-to-earth style of comparing earned him great popularity among people from all circles of life. 

He is one of the most recognized personality among children as he spent a big part of transmission time addressing exclusively children. He called himself the cha cha jee (paternal uncle) of all Pakistani children and soon became known by this title.

Tarar has been an active mountaineer for many years and has been to the base camp of K2 and the Chitti Buoi Glacier. He has gained respect among the Pakistani mountaineering community.