33 Facts About Ismat Chughtai

Ismat Chughtai was an Indian Urdu novelist, short story writer, liberal humanist and filmmaker.

Ismat Chughtai described the influence of her brothers as an important factor which influenced her personality in her formative years.

Ismat Chughtai thought of her second-eldest brother, Mirza Azim Beg Chughtai, as a mentor.

The family eventually settled in Agra, after Ismat Chughtai's father retired from the Indian Civil Services.

Ismat Chughtai received her primary education at the Women's College at the Aligarh Muslim University and graduated from Isabella Thoburn College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1940.

Ismat Chughtai began writing in private around the same time, but did not seek publication of her work until much later.

Ismat Chughtai wrote a drama entitled Fasadi for the Urdu magazine Saqi in 1939, which was her first published work.

Ismat Chughtai's continued association with the Progressive Writers' Movement had significant bearings on her writing style; she was particularly intrigued by Angarey, a compilation of short-stories written in Urdu by members of the group including Jahan, Sajjad Zaheer, Sahibzada Mahmuduzaffar and Ahmed Ali.

Ismat Chughtai later discussed the similarity in themes and style of the novel with the works of the romantic novelist Hijab Imtiaz Ali, citing her as another early influence.

Ismat Chughtai continued to write for various publications during her stay at Aligarh.

Ismat Chughtai found success with such short-stories as Gainda and Khidmatgaar and the play Intikhab, all of which were published during the period.

Ismat Chughtai then moved to Bombay in 1942 and began working as an Inspectress of schools.

Ismat Chughtai garnered widespread attention for her short-story Lihaaf, which appeared in a 1942 issue of Adab-i-Latif, a Lahore-based literary journal.

Ismat Chughtai fared better in the public eye, having garnered support from such fellow members of the Progressive Writers' Movement as Majnun Gorakhpuri and Krishan Chander.

Ismat Chughtai was pregnant with her daughter during the time.

Ismat Chughtai began writing scripts in the late 1940s and made her debut as a screenwriter for Latif's drama film Ziddi.

Ismat Chughtai then wrote the dialogue and screenplay for the 1950 romance drama film Arzoo, starring Kaushal and Dilip Kumar.

Ismat Chughtai expanded her career into directing with the 1953 film Fareb, which featured an ensemble cast of Amar, Maya Daas, Kishore Kumar, Lalita Pawar, and Zohra Sehgal.

Also in 1958, Ismat Chughtai produced the Mahmood-Shyama starrer romance drama Lala Rukh.

Ismat Chughtai continued writing short-stories during the time despite her commitment to film projects.

Dil Ki Duniya, much like Tedhi Lakeer, is autobiographical in nature as Ismat Chughtai drew heavily from her own childhood in Bahraich, Uttar Pradesh.

Ismat Chughtai called the book a first of a kind tell-all book about the Hindi film industry, one that was "an eye-opener even for the know-alls of Bollywood".

Ismat Chughtai was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in the late 1980s, which limited her work thereafter.

Ismat Chughtai died at her house in Mumbai on 24 October 1991, following the prolonged illness.

Ismat Chughtai was known to have been averse of getting a burial, the common funeral practice in Islam.

Lihaaf has since been widely anthologised and has become one of Ismat Chughtai's most appreciated works.

Ismat Chughtai separately cited the example of Jangli Kabootar, which was one of the first novels in Chughtai's cannon to explore the theme of infidelity.

Naqvi highlighted how despite having established herself as a significant voice in Urdu literature by this time, Ismat Chughtai still remained keen on probing new themes and expand the scope of her work.

Hussein comparably calls it one of the best novels of Urdu language and notes that Ismat Chughtai combines all her literary influences and her own lived experiences to create a radical text.

Ismat Chughtai likened the novel's framework to that of a bildungsroman and praised its examination of the nationalist and feminist issues of the period.

Commentators have compared Ismat Chughtai's writing style in the novel to that of French writer and intellectual Simone de Beauvoir, based on the duo's existentialist and humanist affiliations.

Ismat Chughtai was a liberal Muslim whose daughter, nephew, and niece were married to Hindus.

Ismat Chughtai said she read not only the Qur'an, but the Gita and the Bible with openness.