Khwaja Ahmad Abbas facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Khawaja Ahmad Abbas
Abbas in 1939
Born	7 June 1914 (1914-06-07) Panipat, Punjab, British India
Died	1 June 1987(1987-06-01) (aged 72) Bombay, Maharashtra, India
Other names	K A Abbas
Occupation	Film director, screenwriter, novelist, journalist, columnist
Years active	1935–1987
Notable work	Saat Hindustani Mera Naam Joker
Awards	National Film Awards Golden Palm

Khwaja Ahmad Abbas (born June 7, 1914 – died June 1, 1987) was a very talented Indian writer and filmmaker. He wrote stories, novels, and newspaper columns in Urdu, Hindi, and English. He also directed and wrote many important films.

Abbas won four big awards in India called the National Film Awards. His films were also recognized internationally. He won the Palme d'Or (Golden Palm) at the famous Cannes Film Festival and the Crystal Globe at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. He is known as one of the first people to create "parallel cinema" in India, which means realistic and meaningful films.

As a director, he made films in the Hindustani language. His film Dharti Ke Lal (1946) was about the terrible Bengal famine of 1943. This was one of India's first realistic movies and helped Indian films become popular in other countries. Pardesi (1957) was nominated for the Golden Palm award. Shehar Aur Sapna (1963) won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film. His films Saat Hindustani (1969) and Do Boond Pani (1972) both won awards for promoting national unity.

Abbas also wrote screenplays for many important films. These include Dharti Ke Lal (which he also directed) and Neecha Nagar (1946), which won the Golden Palm at the very first Cannes Film Festival. He also wrote for famous director Raj Kapoor's films like Awaara (1951), Shree 420 (1955), Mera Naam Joker (1970), and Bobby (1973).

His newspaper column, 'Last Page', was one of the longest-running in Indian history, from 1935 until his death in 1987. The Indian government honored him with the Padma Shri award in 1969.

About Khwaja Ahmad Abbas

His Early Life and Schooling

Khwaja Ahmad Abbas was born in Panipat, a city in what was then called Undivided Punjab. His family had a history of important people. His grandfather, Khwaja Gulam Abbas, was a brave leader in the Indian Rebellion of 1857, a big uprising against British rule.

Abbas went to Hali Muslim High School, which his great-grandfather had started. He studied English literature and law at Aligarh Muslim University, finishing his studies in 1935.

Starting His Career

After university, Abbas began working as a journalist. He first worked for a newspaper called National Call. In 1935, he joined The Bombay Chronicle as a political reporter and later became a film critic.

He also started working in films in 1936. He was a publicist for Bombay Talkies, a film company. He sold his first film story, Naya Sansar (1941), to them.

His Famous Newspaper Column

While working at The Bombay Chronicle, Abbas started a weekly column called 'Last Page'. This column became very popular and continued for many years. It was one of the longest-running political columns in India's history, lasting from 1935 to 1987. He later wrote for Blitz magazine.

Becoming a Filmmaker

Abbas started writing film scripts for other directors. He wrote Neecha Nagar for Chetan Anand and Dr. Kotnis Ki Amar Kahani for V. Shantaram.

In 1945, he directed his first film, Dharti Ke Lal (Children of the Earth). This film was about the terrible Bengal famine. In 1951, he started his own film company, Naya Sansar. This company made films that focused on important social issues. Some of these films include Shehar Aur Sapna (1964) and Saat Hindustani (1969). Saat Hindustani is also famous because it was the first film for the well-known actor Amitabh Bachchan.

His Writings and Interviews

Abbas wrote 73 books in English, Hindi, and Urdu. He was a leading writer of short stories in Urdu. His book 'Inquilab' was very famous in Indian literature. Many of his works were translated into different languages around the world.

He also interviewed many important people, including leaders like Russian Prime Minister Khrushchov and American President Roosevelt. He even met famous figures like Charlie Chaplin and the first person in space, Yuri Gagarin.

His autobiography, I Am not an Island: An Experiment in Autobiography, tells the story of his life.

Films and Freedom of Speech

A Film About Cities

In 1968, Khwaja Ahmad Abbas made a documentary film called Char Shaher Ek Kahani (A Tale of Four Cities). This film showed the big difference between the rich and poor people in four major Indian cities: Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, and New Delhi.

Getting a Film Certificate

Abbas wanted his film to get a 'U' certificate, which means "Unrestricted Public Exhibition." This certificate allows anyone, including children, to watch the film. However, the film board decided that his film was only suitable for adults.

Abbas disagreed with this decision. He felt that his right to freedom of speech was being limited. He took his case to the Supreme Court of India. He argued that the government should not be able to stop films from being shown freely.

The Supreme Court eventually decided that films could be checked before they are shown to the public. However, this case was very important because it discussed the idea of freedom of speech in films in India.

Awards and Recognitions

Film Awards

• 1942: Won Best Screenplay for Naya Sansar.
• 1946: Wrote Neecha Nagar, the only Indian film to win the Golden Palm at the Cannes Film Festival.
• 1951: Wrote Awaara, which was nominated for the Golden Palm at Cannes.
• 1956: Wrote Jagte Raho, which won the Crystal Globe at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in 1957.
• 1958: Pardesi was nominated for the Golden Palm at Cannes.
• 1960: Won an award for the second best children's film for Idd Mubarak.
• 1964: Won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film for Shehar Aur Sapna.
• 1970: Won the Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration for Saat Hindustani.
• 1972: Won the Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration for Do Boond Pani.

Literary Awards

• 1969: Received the Haryana State Robe of Honour for his writing.
• 1983: Won the Ghalib Award for his contributions to Urdu writing.
• 1984: Received the Vorosky Literary Award from the Soviet Union.
• 1985: Won the Maharashtra State Urdu Akademi Award.
• 1985: Received a Soviet Award for helping build friendship between India and the Soviet Union.

Films He Worked On

Books He Wrote

• Outside India: The Adventures of a Roving Reporter, 1939.
• An Indian looks at America, 1943.
• Tomorrow is ours! A novel of the India of Today, 1943.
• Defeat for death: A story without names, 1944.
• ...and One Did Not Come Back!, 1944.
• Invitation to Immortality: a one-act play, 1944.
• Not all Lies. 1945.
• Blood and stones and other stories. 1947.
• Rice and other stories, 1947.
• I Write as I Feel, 1948.
• Cages of freedom and other stories, 1952.
• China can make it: Eye-witness account of the amazing industrial progress in new China, 1952.
• INQILAB. First Great Novel of the Indian Revolution, 1958.
• Face To Face with Khrushchov, 1960.
• Till We Reach the Stars. The Story of Yuri Gagarin, 1961.
• The Black sun and Other stories, 1963.
• Indira Gandhi; return of the red rose, 1966.
• Divided heart, 1968.
• When Night Falls, 1968.
• Mera Naam Joker, 1970.
• Maria, 1971.
• Bobby, 1973.
• Boy meets Girl, 1973.
• That Woman: Her Seven Years in Power, 1973.
• Jawaharlal Nehru: Portrait of an integrated Indian, 1974.
• Distant dream, 1975.
• The walls of glass: A novel, 1977.
• Barrister-at-law: A play about the early life of Mahatma Gandhi, 1977.
• Men and women: Specially selected long and short stories, 1977.
• Mad, mad, mad world of Indian films, 1977.
• I Am not an Island: An Experiment in Autobiography, 1977.
• Four Friends, 1977.
• The Naxalites, 1979.
• Bread, beauty, and revolution: being a chronological selection from the Last pages, 1947 to 1981, 1982.
• The gun and other stories, 1985.
• The Thirteenth Victim, 1986.
• The World Is My Village: A Novel With An Index, 1984.
• Bombay My Bombay: A Love Story of the City, 1987.
• Indira Gandhi: The Last Post, 1989.
• How Films Are Made, 1999.
• The Dialogue of Awaara: Raj Kapoor's Immortal Classic, 2010.