Khwaja Ahmed Abbas

Khwaja Ahmed Abbas

Khwaja Ahmed Abbas was an Indian film director, novelist, screenwriter, and a journalist in the Urdu, Hindi and Englsih languages. He was the maker of important Hindi films like, ‘Saat Hindustani’, ‘Shehar aur Sapna’, and ‘Palme D'Or.’ His film Neecha Nagar was the winner at the Cannes Film festival. He was a screenwriter for many of Raj Kapoor’s films. Khwaja Ahmad Abbas is considered one of pioneers of Indian parallel or neo-realistic cinema, having penned films like ‘Neecha Nagar’, ‘Jagte Raho’, ‘Dharti Ke Lal’, ‘Awaara’, ‘Saat Hindustani’ and ‘Naya Sansar.’ He was also a novelist and wrote over seventy three books in Urdu, Hindi and English. He also interviewed several renowned personalities in literary and non-literary fields, including the Russian Prime Minister Khrushchov, American President Roosevelt, Charlie Chaplin, Mao-Tse-Tung and Yuri Gagarin. He won the Padma Shri in 1969.