Ismat Chughtai's 107th Birthday: Google Remembers Feminist Urdu Writer & Padma Shri
She strongly wrote on femininity, female sexuality, middle-class gentility, class conflict mostly from a Marxist perspective.
Google is today celebrating the 107th birthday of Ismat Chughtai, an Urdu writer known for her writings on lives of women. Born on August 21, 1915, in Badayun, Uttar Pradesh, she was the ninth of the ten children. Her father worked as a civil servant due to which the family frequently moved and settled in different places. As a child, she was known in the family for her refusal to take part in feminine pastimes lie embroidery and making friends with people from different caste and religion.
She strongly wrote on femininity, female sexuality, middle-class gentility, class conflict mostly from a Marxist perspective. She not only read The Quran but also the Gita and The Bible. Some of her writings including Angarey and Lihaaf were banned in South Asia. Lihaaf was met with a lot of criticisms and outcry when it was released. It is based on the story of a wealthy landlord's wife with her female servant. Although it is now celebrated as a classic, then she had to apologise for her depiction of the same-sex relationship. The matter even went to court but eventually fizzled out.
During the twentieth century, Chugtai became a popular and significant voice in the Urdu literature. For her contribution to literature, the Government of India awarded her with the Padma Shri in 1976. She narrowly avoided an arranged marriage at the age of 15 and convinced her parents to let her study further. She later married director and screenwriter Shahid Lateef.
Chugtai later made her way through to become a screenwriter and has several Bollywood hits like Arzoo (1950), Faraib (1953) and Sone Ki Chidiya (1958) to her credit. Chughtai's daughter, nephew and niece are married to Hindus. The writer in her own words says she came from a family of "Hindus, Muslims and Christians who all live peacefully". She passed away at the age of 76 in 1991 and was cremated in Chandanwadi crematorium according to her wish.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 21, 2018 09:14 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).