Progressive Writers' Association

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K.A. Abbas
‘You are free!' Three words uttered by Premier Kher of Bombay from the balcony of the Government Secretariat, as the National Tricolour went up to replace the Union Jack of imperialism, exactly at 12 midnight—the 'zero hour' of the birth of Freedom! Three words—but they made history. Three words…
in Article
Abbas on Films and Film-writing Ravikant (historian, writer and translator)   The polyglot Abbas was as incredibly prolific in his nearly half-century long filmmaking career as he was in his literary and journalistic avatars.  He was also successful in carving out a niche for himself by forging a…
in Article
Raj Nandy
  The 212-page compendium on Khwaja Ahmad Abbas tells a refreshingly sober and engaging saga of this noble and courageous man, a champion of socialist causes and hallowed human values. Several eminent personalities come together to tell tales of their encounters and moments of instant pull towards…
in Article
Raza Naeem
A review of Bread Beauty Revolution: Khwaja Ahmad Abbas, eds. Syeda Saiyidain Hameed and Iffat Fatima, a compilation of writings by a towering intellectual of Nehruvian India (first published in the Friday TImes, June 10, 2016)   The year 1914 was very kind to the Indian subcontinent. Despite being…
in Article
Rashmi Doraiswamy
Scriptwriter, director, writer, journalist K.A. Abbas’ contribution to Hindi cinema is unique in several ways. Firstly, he negotiated what I would like to call a ‘bipolar order’ (not to be confused with bipolar disorder, which is a medical term). By this I mean that he found a way of articulating…
in Article
Ruth Zothanpuii
This multimedia module is a small window into the all-encompassing world of K.A. Abbas, whose creative oeuvre in Urdu, Hindi and English, consists of over 74 books, more than a 100 short stories, 3000 newspaper columns and a number of films, either scripted, directed or both; all in a life span of…
in Module
Dr Syeda Saiyidain Hameed
Today when we are almost two decades into the 21st century, Khwaja Ahmad Abbas has become even more relevant than he was in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s. He wrote furiously and prolifically for films, newspapers, journals, stories, novels and dramas; his pen flowed in Urdu and English with equal ease.…
in Overview
Suchetana Banerjee (Sahapedia): Samik Da, thank you for agreeing to talk to us about IPTA. I would start by asking, why was Indian People’s Theatre Association formed?   Samik Bandyopadhyay:  It is a very interesting critical point, juncture at which the IPTA emerged along with the Progressive…
in Interview
Sudhanva Deshpande in this conversation with Dr. Javed Malick talks about Habib Tanvir's theatre and politics, language and form, actors and Naya Theatre. Dr. Malick says, 'Habib sa'ab understood the classical form of Indian theatre through the folk form, he realised that the folk and the classical…
in Interview
Ismat Chughtai is considered one of the four pillars of Urdu afsana along with Saadat Hasan Manto, Krishen Chander and Rajinder Singh Bedi. Celebrated for infamous ‘Lihaaf’ (‘The Quilt’, 1941), she also wrote essays on variety of subjects, on social movements, issues of marriage, and on people…
in Module