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The only one human being whose feet I touched. The only man who
I said my first prayers four in the morning. The only writer who
wrote what he felt and believed in. The only man who deserved much
more than he received and gave all that he could afford. He was
rich in thought, word and deed, poor in everything else. The only
man who wrote because he loved writing, because writing, he felt,
was the most powerful way to express feelings, and kinds of feelings.
He was undoubtedly one of the greatest Indians of our time and I
had the rare privilege to work with him, had all kinds of experiences
with him. I had the privilege of working with him, assisting him
in writing his books, his scripts, his novels. I had seen him dealing
with some of the mightiest men from various field of life. A man
the world should have known better but was unfortunate. He wasn’t.
I had and so I can give you a part of a great being called Khwaja
Ahmad Abbas...
Few writers have shown a greater consistent concern for social change
and the uplifting of the down-trodden than Khwaja Ahmad Abbas -
writer, journalist, script-writer, producer and director of films
in Hindi. He has distinguished himself in all these fields with
equal laurels and honours.
Born n the historic town of Panipat in Haryana on June 7, 1914,
he obtained his BA degree in 1933 and two years later passed his
law examination from the Aligarh Muslim University before joining
the newspaper, Bombay Chronicle in 1935 as a feature writer and
rose to an important editorial position by 1947. He gave up his
job and started operating as a freelance journalist and writer.
That was when he started writing books and has so far written about
fifty fiction and non-fiction books including two biographies of
Mrs Indira Gandhi. He started writing the Last Page after he left
Bombay Chronicle in the Blitz magazine. It is astonishing to note
that he never missed the column since even when he was on his death
bed in a hospital with broken ribs. It is one of the most popular
features in Indian journalism.
Perhaps better known as a committed and significant filmmaker than
as a writer, Abbas’ books have regularly been published in
most Indian and a number of foreign languages, notably in English,
Hindi and Urdu. He started as a socially committed commercial filmmaker
and made some star-studded films like Anhonee (Raj Kapoor), Rahi
(Dev Anand) and so on before he turned to artistic, low budget and
meaningful films with Shehar Aur Sapna (a film without songs and
dances and the other ingredients of commercial Hindi films in 1962.
The film won the President’s Gold Medal as the Best Film of
the year in 1963. He has not looked back since and has gone on to
make some more off-beat films like Aasman Mahal, 1965; Bambai Raat
Ki Bahon Mein, 1967; Saat Hindustani, 1969; Do Boond Pani, 1971.
Of his earlier films the important ones are Munna, 1954 and Pardesi,
1957. His first film Dharti Ke Lal made on the Bihar famine in 1946
proved to be a landmark in the Indian cinema and is still considered
to be one of the finest Indian films ever made. It was one of those
few films which kept the audience spell-bound wherever it was shown
abroad. Some of the other important film makers too have made successful
films based on Abbas’ stories; Dr. Kotnis Ki Amar Kahani, Awara,
Shri 420, Mera Naam Joker, Bobby, Achanak. Ever since Shehar Aur
Sapna there has not been a single film which has not bagged Abbas
a couple of awards in the annual state awards. Some of these films
have also won honours and distinctions at the various international
film festivals abroad. He is currently making Faslah.
Abbas received the Padma Shri in 1968. He made motion picture history
when his documentary A Tale of Four Cities was refused censor certificate
and he took up the matter with the State in the Supreme Court and
won the case. His greatest triumph! His gift to posterity.
These are hardly half the number of achievements of the man who
went on to achieve what very few human beings can, I challenge.
He is the kind of man who makes the most difficult things easy,
the kind of man the world is enriched with. I’ll tell you some
more of his experiences and challenges he faced during a fiery life.
Free, frank and fearless were the hallmarks of this frail, short
but still strong as steel man. Courage was his second name. I’ll
tell you more and more about Abbas the next time...
Ali Peter John
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