Growing up anywhere in the north of Pakistan in the ‘80s and ‘90s, everyone knew they had to accept a few inevitable truths, entertainment-wise. There wasn’t going to be a lot of it, whatever there was would have to be conjured up by oneself, and your early-evening news would be delivered in Arabic, followed by a Pashto drama.

And this is where all the ‘80s and ‘90s kids became acquainted with Rasheed Naz. The man appeared formidable as opposed to other famous Pashto TV actors of the time.

Naz carried himself with a dignity beyond the ordinary man’s grasp, wore a deep frown on his third eye, and played gruff, strict characters more often than not. He was the powerful patriarch, the terrible terrorist, the gentle grandfather; he was at once everything you wish your patriarchs weren’t and were, and therein lay the true proof of his acting prowess.

In Khuda Kay Liye (2007), he plays Maulana Tahiri, a spiritual leader who grooms Fawad Khan’s character Mansoor towards radical Islam, which results in catastrophic results for both Mansoor, and everyone connected to him.

Rasheed Naz passed away peacefully last week, and we believe, truly, that there will never be another quite like him.