Khwaja Ahmad Abbas

Journalist, novelist, director and Raj Kapoor's screenwriter · 1914–1987

Khwaja Ahmad Abbas was born in Panipat on 7 June 1914 and was a journalist, novelist, director and the screenwriter who gave Raj Kapoor's films their social conscience. His newspaper column 'The Last Page' ran for decades and was one of the longest-running in Indian journalism. He wrote Awaara (1951), Shree 420 (1955), Mera Naam Joker (1970) and Bobby (1973).

As a director he made Dharti Ke Lal (1946), Pardesi (1957), an Indo-Soviet co-production, and Saat Hindustani (1969), which gave Amitabh Bachchan his first screen role. That Soviet link matters for Mera Naam Joker: Abbas wrote its screenplay with Raj Kapoor in mind, and the film, released in the Soviet Union in 1972 as three separate films, drew 73.1 million admissions in total, while at home it was a failure. He died in Bombay on 1 June 1987.