"The grand dame
of Urdu fiction: Ismat Chughtai"
Ismat Chughtai (1911–91) was Urdu’s most courageous and
controversial woman writer in the twentieth century. She carved a niche for
herself among her contemporaries of Urdu fiction writers—Rajinder Singh Bedi,
Saadat Hasan Manto and Krishan Chander—by introducing areas of experience not
explored before.
Chugtai stayed on in India after the subcontinent was
partitioned. Ismat's work revolutionized feminist politics in the twentieth
century Urdu literature. She explored feminine sexuality, middle-class
gentility, and other evolving conflicts in modern India. Her outspoken and
controversial style of writing made her the passionate voice for the unheard,
and she has become an inspiration for the younger generation of writers,
readers and intellectuals.
She also wrote for films and much later, even acted in one--
she played the role of the grandmother in Junoon (1978). Several of her stories
have been made into films. Of these, Garam Hawa (1973) won a great deal of
acclaim. She is, therefore, also a part of the complex relationship that
existed between Indian cinema and the progressive writers in Urdu.
Ismat Chughtai was a born rebel. She led an unconventional
life, went in for higher education, took up a job, lived alone, married a man
of her choice and was cremated, as she had desired, instead of being buried.
Submitted by:
Muktaparna Boruah
A6429713002
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