Khwaja Ahmad Abbas

Influential Bombay-based Leftist journalist turned screenwriter and later writer-producer-director. Beginning in the 1940s with screenplays for such films as "Naya Sansar/New World" (1941), (which Abbas would later adopt as the name for his own film company) and "Awara/The Vagabond" (1951), Abbas has helmed a number of social problem films since his debut. His concern for topical cultural and political issues distinguishes him in a film industry which overwhelmingly produces light, escapist entertainment, an industry that Abbas would like to see nationalized. Films which he directed as well as wrote include "Dharti Ke Lal/Children of the Earth" (1946), "The City and the Dream" (1963) and "Do Boond Pari" (1972).