Early life and career beginnings (1911–41) Ismat Chughtai was born on 21 August 1911 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 of 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 in 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. 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."
Later years, critical reappraisals and subsequent acclaim (1990s and beyond) 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. ==Influences and writing style==