Исмат Чхугтай: Жизнь и творчество

Indian Urdu writer and filmmaker (1915–1991)

Ismat Chughtai (21 August 1915 – 24 October 1991) was an Indian Urdu novelist, short story writer, liberal humanist and filmmaker. Beginning in the 1930s, she wrote extensively on themes including female sexuality and femininity, middle class gentility, and class conflict, often from a Marxist perspective. With a style characterised by literary realism, Chughtai established herself as a significant voice in the Urdu literature of the twentieth century, and in 1976 was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India.

Ismat Chughtai was born on 21 August 1915 in Badayun, Uttar Pradesh to Nusrat Khanam and Mirza Qaseem Baig Chughtai; she was the ninth of ten children—six brothers and four sisters. Chughtai received her primary education at the Women's College at the Aligarh Muslim University and graduated from Isabella Thoburn College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1940. Despite strong resistance from her family, she completed her Bachelor of Education degree from the Aligarh Muslim University the following year. Chughtai began writing in private around the same time, but did not seek publication for her work until much later. Following that, she started writing for other publications and newspapers. Some of her early works included Bachpan (Childhood), an autobiographical piece, Kafir (Infidel), her first short story, and Dheet (Stubborn), her only soliloquy, among others. She, nonetheless, continued writing about "things she would hear of". Chughtai's first novella Ziddi, which she had written on her early twenties was first published in 1941. The book chronicles the love affair between a woman, who works as domestic help in an affluent household and her employer's son. Chughtai later discussed the similarity in themes and style of the novel with the works of the romantic novelist Hijab Imtiaz Ali, citing her as another early influence. Commentators have praised the novella, both for its "compelling prose" Critic and short story writer Aamer Hussein, in a 2015 retrospective review, likened Chughtai's "oracular voice, which didn't comment or explain, but studded the narrative with poetic observations" to that of American author Toni Morrison. She then moved to Bombay in 1942 and began working as an Inspectress of schools. Chughtai garnered widespread attention for her short story Lihaaf (The Quilt), which appeared in a 1942 issue of Adab i Latif, a Lahore based literary journal. Fellow writer and member of the Progressive Writers' Movement Sadat Hassan Manto was also charged with similar allegations for his short story Bu (Odour) and accompanied Chughtai to Lahore. The charges notwithstanding, both Chughtai and Manto were exonerated. The trial, which took place in 1945, itself drew much media and public attention and brought notoriety to the duo. Chughtai fared better in the public eye, having garnered support from such fellow members of the Progressive Writers' Movement as Majnun Gorakhpuri and Krishan Chander. Regardless, she detested the media coverage of the whole incident, which in her view weighted heavily upon her subsequent work; "[Lihaaf] brought me so much notoriety that I got sick of life. It became the proverbial stick to beat me with and whatever I wrote afterwards got crushed under its weight." Chughtai, who had been apprehensive about the meeting at first, later expressed her delight in a memoir, writing, "flowers can be made to bloom among rocks. The only condition is that one has to water the plant with one's heart's blood". The book chronicles the lives of the Muslim community, women in particular, in the backdrop of the waning British Raj. Chughtai's exploration of the "inner realms of women's lives" was well received by critics who variously described her work in Tedhi Lakeer as "probing and pertinent" and "empowering". She herself recalled her creative process in the 1972 interview, saying she found inspiration from the small incidents that she would witness around her and even the personal conversations that took place amongst the women in her family, "I write about people I know or have known. What should a writer write about anyway"? She then wrote the dialogue and screenplay for the 1950 romance drama film Arzoo, starring Kaushal and Dilip Kumar. Chughtai expanded her career into directing with the 1953 film Fareb, which featured an ensemble cast of Amar, Maya Daas, Kishore Kumar, Lalita Pawar, and Zohra Sehgal. Having again written the screenplay based on one of her short stories, Chughtai co directed the film with Latif. Chughtai's association with film solidified when she and Latif co founded the production company Filmina. Sone Ki Chidiya has been described as a significant production for "[chronicling] a heady time in Indian cinema" and showcasing the "grime behind the glamour" of the film industry. Nutan, who garnered a good response for her performance in the film, herself described it as one of her favorite projects. Also in 1958, Chughtai produced the Mahmood Shyama starrer romance drama Lala Rukh. Chughtai continued writing short stories during the time despite her commitment to film projects. Her fourth collection of short stories Chui Mui (Touch me not) was released in 1952 to an enthusiastic response. The eponymous short story has been noted for its "pertinent dissection of our society" and contesting the venerated tradition of motherhood, especially its
equation of womanhood. Her next work, the 1966 novella Saudai (Obsession) was based on the screenplay of 1951 film Buzdil, which she co wrote with Latif. Commentators have noted that Saudai could never shed its structure and still read like a screenplay despite Chughtai's efforts. Following a lukewarm reception for both Masooma and Saudai, The novel follows the lives of a varied group of women living in a conservative Muslim household in Uttar Pradesh. Dil Ki Duniya, much like Tedhi Lakeer, is autobiographical in nature as Chughtai drew heavily from her own childhood in Bahraich, Uttar Pradesh. Comparing the two, Hussein says, "if Tedhi Lakeer impressed me with its boldness, range and its credentials as a major novel, Dil ki Duniyas influence would linger with me forever, and I'd find its thematic and stylistic echoes in my own stories". Jangli Kabootar, which was first published in 1970, follows the life of an actress and was partially inspired from a real life incident that had occurred at the time. Chughtai's grandson, filmmaker Aijaz Khan had expressed his interest in a making a feature film based on story in a 2015 interview with the Mumbai Mirror: "would like to make one of her stories, Jangli Kabootar [as the story has] always fascinated me." Ajeeb Aadmi similarly narrates the life of Dharam Dev, a popular leading man in Bollywood and the impact that his extra marital affair with Zareen Jamal, a fellow actress has on the lives of the people involved. The novel was said to have been based on the affair between frequent co stars Guru Dutt and Waheeda Rehman; Dutt was married to playback singer Geeta Dutt and the couple had three children at the time. Mumbai based writer and journalist, Jerry Pinto noted the impact of Ajeeb Aadmis initial release saying, "There hadn't been a more dramatic and candid account of the tangled emotional lives of Bollywood before this."

Chughtai was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in the late 1980s, which limited her work thereafter. She died at her house in Mumbai on 24 October 1991, following the prolonged illness. Chughtai was known to have been averse of getting a burial, the common funeral practice in Islam. Rakhshanda Jalil quotes one of Chughtai's conversations with Qurratulain Hyder, a friend and contemporary writer in An Uncivil Woman: Writings on Ismat Chughtai, "I am very scared of the grave. They bury you beneath a pile of mud. One would suffocate [ ] I'd rather be cremated." As per most accounts, Chughtai was cremated at the Chandanwadi crematorium, in accordance with her last wishes. Following the translation of numerous of her works into English, a renewed interest in the Urdu literature of the twentieth century, and subsequent critical reappraisals, Chughtai's status as a writer rose. Critical reappraisals for her works began with rereadings of Lihaaf, which in the intervening years has attached a greater significance; it was noted for its portrayal of the insulated life of a neglected wife in the feudal society and became a landmark for its early depiction of sex, still a taboo in modern Indian literature. Lihaaf has since been widely anthologised and has become one of Chughtai's most appreciated works. With more of her work being made available for reading to a wider audience over the years, criticism centered around the limited scope of Chughtai's writing has also subsided. In a 1993 retrospective piece, Naqvi also countered the perceived scope of Chughtai's writings, saying that her work was "neither confined to nor exhausted" by the themes central to Lihaaf: "she had much, much more to offer". Critic and dramatist Shamim Hanfi gives it highest praise, saying that the novel, its first half in particular, matches up to the highest standards of world literature. Hussein comparably calls it one of the best novels of Urdu language and notes that Chughtai combines all her literary influences and her own lived experiences to create a radical text. He likened the novel's framework to that of a bildungsroman and praised its examination of the nationalist and feminist issues of the period. Commentators have also compared Chughtai's writing style in the novel to that of French writer and intellectual Simone de Beauvoir, based on the duo's existentialist and humanist affiliations. She said she read not only the Qur’an, but also the Gita and the Bible with openness. In Chughtai's formative years, Nazar Sajjad Hyder had established herself an independent feminist voice, and the short stories of two very different women, Hijab Imtiaz Ali and Rashid Jehan, were also a significant early influence. Many of her writings, including Angarey and Lihaaf, were banned in South Asia because their reformist and feminist content offended conservatives (for example, her view that the Niqab, the veil worn by women in Muslim societies, should be discouraged for Muslim women because it is oppressive and feudal).

Ismat: Her Life, Her Times. Sukrita Paul Kumar, Katha, New Delhi, 2000. Ismat Chughtai, A Fearless Voice. Manjulaa Negi, Rupa and Co, 2003.81 29101 53 X. "Torchbearer of a literary revolution". The Hindu, Sunday, 21 May 2000. Kashmir Uzma Urdu weekly, Srinagar, 27 December 2004, 2 January 2005. "Ismat Chughtai – Pakistan India (1915–1991)", World People, 5 May 2006. Eyad N. Al Samman, "Ismat Chughtai: An Iconoclast Muslim Dame of Urdu Fiction", Yemem Times, 13 April 2009
The song "Yeh Dunya", released in the fourteenth season of Coke Studio Pakistan, where singer Faris Shafi mentions Ismat Chugtai in his rap.

On 21 August 2018, Google celebrated her 107th birthday with a Google Doodle.

Year Work Award Category Result Ref. (Reference)1974 Terhi Lakeer Ghalib Award Best Urdu Drama 1974–75Garam HawaNational Film AwardsBest Story Filmfare AwardBest StoryGovernment of India State Award1976 Indian civilian awardsPadma Shri 1979 Andhra Pradesh Urdu Akademi AwardMakhdoom Literary Award1982Soviet Land Nehru Award1990 Rajasthan Urdu AkademiIqbal Samman