Editing Ismat Chughtai (section)

== Biography ==
===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.<ref name="Gopal2012"/> The family moved frequently as Chughtai's father was a [[Indian Civil Services|civil servant]]; she spent her childhood in cities including [[Jodhpur]], [[Agra]], and [[Aligarh]]—mostly in the company of her brothers as her sisters had all got married while she was still very young. Chughtai described the influence of her brothers as an important factor which influenced her personality in her formative years. She thought of her second-eldest brother, Mirza Azim Beg Chughtai (also a novelist), as a mentor. The family eventually settled in Agra, after Chughtai's father retired from the Indian Civil Services.<ref name="parekh">{{cite web|url=http://www.dawn.com/news/1203638|title=Essay: Ismat Chughtai: her life, thought and art|last=Parekh|first=Rauf|work=[[Dawn (newspaper)|Dawn]]|access-date=24 April 2018|date=30 August 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171206005838/https://www.dawn.com/news/1203638|archive-date=6 December 2017|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

Chughtai received her primary education at the [[Women's College, Aligarh|Women's College]] at the [[Aligarh Muslim University]] and graduated from [[Isabella Thoburn College]] with a [[Bachelor of Arts]] degree in 1940.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/9JgfILAahE0gybNT3KUYTM/The-fine-print-of-the-AMU-library-row.html|title=The fine print of the AMU Library row|last=Bhandare|first=Namita|work=[[Mint (newspaper)|Mint]]|access-date=24 April 2018|date=11 November 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171012110602/http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/9JgfILAahE0gybNT3KUYTM/The-fine-print-of-the-AMU-library-row.html|archive-date=12 October 2017|df=dmy-all}}</ref> Despite strong resistance from her family, she completed her [[Bachelor of Education]] degree from the Aligarh Muslim University the following year.<ref name="parekh"/> It was during this period that Chughtai became associated with the [[Progressive Writers' Association]], having attended her first meeting in 1936 where she met [[Rashid Jahan]], one of the leading female writers involved with the movement, who was later credited for inspiring Chughtai to write "realistic, challenging female characters".<ref name="bahuguna">{{cite web|url=https://scroll.in/article/847158/born-on-indias-future-independence-day-ismat-chughtai-wrote-of-the-world-she-saw-not-aspired-to|title=Born on India's future Independence Day, Ismat Chughtai wrote of the world she saw, not aspired to|last=Bahuguna|first=Urvashi|work=Scroll.in|access-date=25 April 2017|date=15 August 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171016041432/https://scroll.in/article/847158/born-on-indias-future-independence-day-ismat-chughtai-wrote-of-the-world-she-saw-not-aspired-to|archive-date=16 October 2017|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref name="mclain">{{cite web|title=The Fantastic as Frontier: Realism, the Fantastic and Transgression in Mid-Twentiet century Urdu fiction|url=http://www.urdustudies.com/pdf/16/14_McLain.pdf|last=McLain|first=Karline|publisher=[[University of Texas, Austin]]|access-date=11 January 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131204045727/http://www.urdustudies.com/pdf/16/14_McLain.pdf|archive-date=4 December 2013|df=dmy-all}}</ref> Chughtai began writing in private around the same time, but did not seek publication of her work until much later.<ref name="mclain"/>

{{quote box|bgcolor=#CCDDFF|align=left|width=26em|quote=When I started writing, there was a trend -- writing romantic things or writing like a Progressive. When I started to write, people were very shocked because I wrote very frankly [...] I didn't write what you'd call "literarily." I wrote and do write as I speak, in a very simple language, not the literary language.|source=—Chughtai on her early writings, in a 1972 interview with ''Mahfil''.<ref name="mahfil"/>}}

Chughtai wrote a drama entitled ''Fasādī'' (''The Troublemaker'') for the Urdu magazine ''Saqi'' in 1939, which was her first published work. Upon publication, readers mistook it as a play by Chughtai's brother Azeem Beg, written using a [[pseudonym]].<ref name="naqvi">{{cite journal|last1=Naqvi|first1=Tahira|title=Ismat Chughtai–A Tribute|journal=Annual of Urdu Studies  |volume=8|date=1993|url=https://minds.wisconsin.edu/bitstream/handle/1793/11805/08Ismat.pdf?sequence=2|access-date=25 April 2018|publisher=[[University of Wisconsin]]|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180426075657/https://minds.wisconsin.edu/bitstream/handle/1793/11805/08Ismat.pdf?sequence=2|archive-date=26 April 2018|df=dmy-all}}</ref> 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 ''[[Dhee (TV show)|Dheet]]'' (''Stubborn''), her only [[soliloquy]], among others.<ref name="bano"/> In response to a story that she wrote for a magazine, Chughtai was told that her work was [[blasphemy|blasphemous]] and insulted the [[Quran]].<ref name="patel">{{cite web|url=https://www.livemint.com/Leisure/NTt7hWtC5yAWZx0cQCrYAM/Ismat-Chughtais-fearless-pen.html|title=Ismat Chughtai's fearless pen|last=Patel|first=Aakar|work=[[Mint (newspaper)|Livemint]]|access-date=25 April 2018|date=14 August 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180426013313/https://www.livemint.com/Leisure/NTt7hWtC5yAWZx0cQCrYAM/Ismat-Chughtais-fearless-pen.html|archive-date=26 April 2018|df=dmy-all}}</ref> She, nonetheless, continued writing about "things she would hear of".<ref name="patel"/>

Chughtai's continued association with the Progressive Writers' Movement had significant bearings on her writing style; she was particularly intrigued by ''[[Angarey]]'', a compilation of short-stories written in Urdu by members of the group including Jahan, [[Sajjad Zaheer]], Sahibzada Mahmuduzaffar and [[Ahmed Ali (writer)|Ahmed Ali]]. Other early influences included such writers as [[William Sydney Porter]], [[George Bernard Shaw]], and [[Anton Chekhov]].<ref name="patel"/> ''Kalyān'' (''Buds'') and ''Cōtēn'' (''Wounds''), two of Chughtai's earliest collections of short stories, were published in 1941 and 1942, respectively.<ref name="bano">{{cite web|url=http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/jspui/bitstream/10603/165149/11/11_chapter%25206.pdf|title=The emergence of feminist consciousness among Muslim women the case of Aligarh|last=Bano|first=Farhat|publisher=[[University of Calcutta]]|via=[[Shodhganga]]|access-date=13 May 2018|date=2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180514182257/http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/165149/11/11_chapter%206.pdf|archive-date=14 May 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref>

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"<ref name="hussein"/> and for providing "[glimpses] into a world where women try to break out of the shackles created by other women, rather than men".<ref name="afif">{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/opinion/the-realm-of-the-heart/cid/320085|title=The realm of the heart|last=Afif Siddiqi|first=Shams |work=[[The Telegraph (Calcutta)|The Telegraph]]|access-date=19 September 2019|date=5 September 2014}}</ref> 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]].<ref name="hussein"/> ''Ziddi'' was later translated into English as ''Wild at Heart'' and adapted into  a [[Ziddi (1948 film)|1948 feature film of the same name]].<ref name="Gopal2012"/>

===Niche appreciation and transition to film (1942–60)===
After completing her Bachelor's of Education degree, Chughtai successfully applied for the post of headmistress of an Aligarh-based Girls school. There, she met and developed a close friendship with [[Shaheed Latif]], who was pursuing a master's degree at the [[Aligarh Muslim University]] at the time.<ref name="naqvi"/> Chughtai continued to write for various publications during her stay at Aligarh. She found success with such short-stories as ''Gainda'' and ''Khidmatgaar'' and the play ''Intikhab'', all of which were published during the period.<ref name="gupta">{{cite web|url=https://sol.du.ac.in/mod/book/tool/print/index.php?id=855|title=The Short Stories|last=Gupta|first=Neeta|publisher=[[School of Open Learning]]|access-date=27 April 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180506035620/https://sol.du.ac.in/mod/book/tool/print/index.php?id=855|archive-date=6 May 2018|df=dmy-all}}</ref> She then moved to Bombay in 1942 and began working as an Inspectress of schools.<ref name="naqvi"/> Later that year, she married Latif, who was now working as a dialogue writer in [[Bollywood]], in a private ceremony. [[Khwaja Ahmad Abbas]] was the legal witness to the ceremony.<ref name="Gopal2012"/><ref name="popularity">{{cite web|url=http://www.thehindu.com/books/Remembering-a-trailblazer/article17069451.ece|title=Remembering a trailblazer|last=Kumar|first=Kuldeep|work=[[The Hindu]]|access-date=8 May 2018|date=20 January 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180514182254/http://www.thehindu.com/books/Remembering-a-trailblazer/article17069451.ece|archive-date=14 May 2018|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

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.<ref name="parekh"/> Inspired by the rumoured affair of a ''begum'' and her masseuse in Aligarh, the story chronicles the sexual awakening of Begum Jan following her unhappy marriage with a ''nawab''.<ref name="bahuguna"/> Upon release, ''Lihaaf'' attracted criticism for its suggestion of [[female homosexuality]] and a subsequent [[trial]], with Chughtai being summoned by the [[Lahore High Court]] to defend herself against the charges of "obscenity".<ref name="mitra">{{cite web|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/books/features/The-same-sex-appeal-in-literature/articleshow/10569100.cms|title=The same-sex appeal in literature|last=Mitra|first=Ipshita|work=[[The Times of India]]|access-date=7 May 2018|date=28 September 2012}}</ref> 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.<ref name="asaduddin">{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/1120401/jsp/7days/story_15319777.jsp|title=Dude, it's not lewd|last=Asaduddin|first=M|work=[[The Telegraph (Calcutta)|The Telegraph]]|access-date=7 May 2018|date=1 April 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180507090721/https://www.telegraphindia.com/1120401/jsp/7days/story_15319777.jsp|archive-date=7 May 2018|df=dmy-all}}</ref> Both Chughtai and Manto were exonerated.<ref name="shamsie">{{cite web|url=https://epaper.dawn.com/DetailImage.php?StoryImage=27_11_2016_461_001|title=The feminist voice of Ismat Chughtai|last=Shamsie|first=Muneeza|work=[[Dawn (newspaper)|Dawn]]|access-date=7 May 2018|date=27 November 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180507085638/https://epaper.dawn.com/DetailImage.php?StoryImage=27_11_2016_461_001|archive-date=7 May 2018|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

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."<ref name="asaduddin"/>

{{quote box|bgcolor=#CCDDFF|align=right|width=26em|quote=We stood face to face during a dinner. I felt the ground under my feet receding. She  cruised through the crowd, leaped at me and took me in her arms [...] I felt like throwing myself into someone’s arms and crying my heart out. She invited me to a fabulous dinner. I felt fully rewarded when I saw her flower-like boy. I felt he was mine as well. A part of my mind, a living product of my brain. An offspring of my pen. |source=—Chughtai on her meeting with the woman who was the inspiration behind ''[[Lihaaf]]''}}

Chughtai, however, is known to have made her peace with the whole fiasco, having met the woman who had inspired Begum Jan a few years after the publication of ''Lihaaf''. The woman told Chughtai that she had since divorced her husband, remarried and was raising a child with her second husband. Chughtai's biographers  recall the meeting between the two women in ''Ismat: Her life, Her times'': "[Chughtai] felt greatly rewarded when the begum told [her that ''Lihaaf''] had changed her life and it is because of her story now she was blessed with a child".<ref name="sadiq">{{cite book |last1=Paul Kumar |first1=Sukrita |last2=Sadique  |first2=Sadique|title=Ismat: Her Life, Her Times |date=2000 |publisher=Katha Books |isbn=9788185586977 |pages=65 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fcJjAAAAMAAJ&q=ismat:+her+life,+her+times+edited+by+sukrita+paul+kumar+%26+sadique+katha |access-date=18 September 2019 |language=en}}</ref> 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".<ref name="bahuguna"/>

Chughtai's quasi-autobiographical novel ''Tedhi Lakeer'' (''The Crooked Line'') was released in 1943.<ref name="bano"/> She was pregnant with her daughter during the time. She recalled the difficult circumstances facing her during her work on the novel, in a 1972 interview with ''Mahfil:  Journal of South Asian Literature'': "[It was] during the war that I wrote my novel ''Terhi Lakeer'', a big, thick novel. I was sick then, pregnant with my daughter. But I was always writing that novel".<ref name="mahfil">{{cite journal |last1=Coppola |first1=Carlo |title=Interview with Ismat Chughtai |journal=Mahfil |date=1972 |volume=8 |issue=2–3 |page=169 |url=https://dsal.uchicago.edu/books/mahfil/toc.html?volume=8&number=2-3 |access-date=16 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190801111900/https://dsal.uchicago.edu/books/mahfil/toc.html?volume=8&number=2-3 |archive-date=1 August 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref> The book chronicles the lives of the Muslim community, women in particular, in the backdrop of the waning [[British Raj]].<ref name="famousworks">{{cite web|url=https://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/books/ismat-chughtai-birth-anniversary-best-work-5317260/|title=Ismat Chughtai birth anniversary: A look at her memorable work|work=[[The Indian Express]]|access-date=17 September 2019|date=21 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180923003257/https://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/books/ismat-chughtai-birth-anniversary-best-work-5317260/|archive-date=23 September 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> 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"<ref name="zakaria">{{cite web|url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1051981|title=Ismat Chughtai: The inner worlds of educated women|last=Zakaria|first=Rafia|work=[[Dawn (newspaper)|Dawn]]|access-date=5 May 2018|date=26 October 2013|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180420014416/https://www.dawn.com/news/1051981|archive-date=20 April 2018|df=dmy-all}}</ref> and "empowering".<ref name="gautam">{{cite web|url=https://www.dailyo.in/arts/ismat-chugtai-indian-literature-obscenity-laws-twitter-tedhi-lakeer-lihaaf-progressive-writers-movement-india-translation-postcolonialism/story/1/5822.html|title=Ismat Chughtai, thank you for being our Tedhi Lakeer|last=Gautam|first=Nishtha|work=DailyO|access-date=5 May 2018|date=22 August 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180506103935/https://www.dailyo.in/arts/ismat-chugtai-indian-literature-obscenity-laws-twitter-tedhi-lakeer-lihaaf-progressive-writers-movement-india-translation-postcolonialism/story/1/5822.html|archive-date=6 May 2018|df=dmy-all}}</ref> 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"?<ref name="mahfil"/>

In the years following their wedding, Latif also introduced Chughtai to the Hindi film industry.<ref name="gupta"/> She began writing scripts in the late 1940s and made her debut as a screenwriter for Latif's drama film ''[[Ziddi (1948 film)|Ziddi]]''. Starring [[Kamini Kaushal]], [[Pran (actor)|Pran]], and [[Dev Anand]] in his first major film role, ''Ziddi'' became one of the biggest commercial successes of 1948. It was based on the 1941 eponymous short story; Chughtai had rewritten the narrative in form of a screenplay for the production.<ref name="popularity"/><ref name="willemen">{{cite book|last1=Rajadhyaksha|first1=Ashish|last2=Willemen|first2=Paul|title=Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema|date=2014|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781135943189|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SLkABAAAQBAJ&q=ziddi+1948+reviews&pg=PA80|language=en|pages=80|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180507154108/https://books.google.co.in/books?id=SLkABAAAQBAJ&pg=PA80&lpg=PA80&dq=ziddi+1948+reviews&source=bl&ots=VCZvPExybk&sig=j97JE2LF6X9bLFETFP28LXyZdyM&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwir_If1ofPaAhVBuI8KHYKcDp84ChDoATANegQIBhAB#v=onepage&q=ziddi%201948%20reviews&f=false|archive-date=7 May 2018|df=dmy-all}}</ref> She then wrote the dialogue and screenplay for the 1950 romance drama film ''[[Arzoo (1950 film)|Arzoo]]'', starring Kaushal and [[Dilip Kumar]]. Chughtai expanded her career into [[film direction|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.<ref name="willemen"/> Upon release, both ''Arzoo'' and ''Fareb'' garnered positive response from the audience and performed well at the box-office.<ref name="hyder">{{cite web|url= https://www.dailyo.in/arts/ismat-chughtai-urdu-literature-short-stories-lihaaf/story/1/18952.html|title=Ismat Chughtai dared to raise the veil of hypocrisies in Indian society|last=Hyder|first=Qurratulain|work=DailyO|access-date=11 May 2018|date=25 August 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180512043621/https://www.dailyo.in/arts/ismat-chughtai-urdu-literature-short-stories-lihaaf/story/1/18952.html|archive-date=12 May 2018|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

Chughtai's association with film solidified when she and Latif co-founded the production company Filmina.<ref name="bano"/> Her first project as a filmmaker was the 1958 drama film ''Sone Ki Chidiya'', which she wrote and co-produced. Starring [[Nutan]] and [[Talat Mahmood]] in lead roles, it told the story of a [[child actor]], who was abused and exploited over the course of her career. The film was well received by audiences and the success translated directly into a rise in Chughtai's popularity, as noted by writer and critic Shams Kanwal.<ref name="sadique">{{cite book|last1=Sadique|first1=Daktar|last2=Paul Kumar|first2=Sukrita|title=Ismat: Her Life, Her Times|date=2000|publisher=Katha Books|isbn=9788185586977|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fcJjAAAAMAAJ&q=celluloid+masterpiece+was+Garam+Hawa|access-date=11 May 2018|page=92|language=en|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180512043856/https://books.google.co.in/books?id=fcJjAAAAMAAJ&q=celluloid+masterpiece+was+Garam+Hawa&dq=celluloid+masterpiece+was+Garam+Hawa&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjk3-m-yv7aAhUMwLwKHftRAegQ6AEIJDAA|archive-date=12 May 2018|df=dmy-all}}</ref> ''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.<ref name="gahlot">{{cite book|last1=Gahlot|first1=Deepa|title=Take-2: 50 Films That Deserve a New Audience|date=2015|publisher=Hay House, Inc|isbn=9789384544850|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JEqwDAAAQBAJ&q=sone+ki+chidiya+ismat+chughtai&pg=PT128|access-date=11 May 2018|language=en|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180512043858/https://books.google.co.in/books?id=JEqwDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT128&lpg=PT128&dq=sone+ki+chidiya+ismat+chughtai&source=bl&ots=kmaGJ77RtA&sig=8UrcqCQzIys02BpibE6moOi9Js8&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjMj5fJxv7aAhXIw7wKHTzZDRw4ChDoATAFegQIBRAB#v=onepage&q=sone%20ki%20chidiya%20ismat%20chughtai&f=false|archive-date=12 May 2018|df=dmy-all}}</ref> Nutan, who garnered a good response for her performance in the film, herself described it as one of her favorite projects.<ref name="nutan">{{cite web|url=https://m.rediff.com/movies/2002/feb/05din.htm|title=Forever Nutan|work=[[Rediff.com]]|access-date=11 May 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180512044108/https://m.rediff.com/movies/2002/feb/05din.htm|archive-date=12 May 2018|df=dmy-all}}</ref> Also in 1958, Chughtai produced the Mahmood-[[Shyama (Hindi actress)|Shyama]] starrer romance drama ''Lala Rukh''.<ref name="rukh">{{cite book|last1=Somaaya|first1=Bhawana|title=Once Upon a Time in India: A Century of Indian Cinema|date=2016|publisher=Random House India|isbn=9789385990403|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V4PZDQAAQBAJ&q=lala+rukh+ismat+chughtai&pg=RA2-PT120|language=en|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180512181629/https://books.google.co.in/books?id=V4PZDQAAQBAJ&pg=RA2-PT120&lpg=RA2-PT120&dq=lala+rukh+ismat+chughtai&source=bl&ots=cIYjlbmLlu&sig=iv5_gi6I93GRM3_xMSzZdRyyTgU&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjVsdr8z__aAhUOSY8KHaX8DR4Q6AEwGHoECAEQAQ|archive-date=12 May 2018|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

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.<ref name="tharu">{{cite book|last1=Tharu|first1=Susie J.|last2=Lalita|first2=Ke|title=Women Writing in India: The twentieth century|date=1991|publisher=[[The Feminist Press]]|page=128|isbn=9781558610293|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OjZYf9Xf9bcC&q=chui+mui+ismat&pg=PA128|language=en}}</ref> The [[eponymous]] short-story has been noted for its "pertinent dissection of our society"<ref name="rafay">{{cite web|url=https://tribune.com.pk/story/679632/ismat-apa-kay-naam-the-shahs-take-the-stage/|title=Ismat Apa Kay Naam: The Shahs take the stage|last=Mahmood|first=Rafay|work=[[The Express Tribune]]|access-date=14 May 2018|date=6 March 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150909223936/http://tribune.com.pk/story/679632/ismat-apa-kay-naam-the-shahs-take-the-stage/|archive-date=9 September 2015|df=dmy-all}}</ref> and contesting the venerated tradition of [[motherhood]], especially its
equation of [[Ideal womanhood|womanhood]].<ref name="bano"/> Rafay Mahmood highlighted, in a 2014 editorial, the relevance of the story in the twenty-first century. ''Chui Mui'' was adapted for stage by [[Naseeruddin Shah]] as a part of a commemorative series ''Ismat Apa Kay Naam'', with his daughter Heeba Shah playing the central character in the production.<ref name="rafay"/>

===Success with writing novels (1961–90)===
Beginning in the 1960s, Chughtai wrote a total of eight novels, the first of which was ''Masooma'' (''The Innocent Girl''), published in 1962.<ref name="bano"/> The film follows the life of a young actress, Nilofar, who is forced to work as [[call girl]] to sustain her family once her father abandons them. Set in the Bombay of 1950s, the novel delves into the themes of [[sexual exploitation]] and [[social injustice|social]] and [[economic inequality|economic injustice]].<ref name="spectrum_masooma">{{cite web|url=https://www.tribuneindia.com/2011/20110807/spectrum/book7.htm|title=Sexploitation, cops and verse|last=Wadehra|first=Randeep|work=[[The Tribune]]|date=7 August 2011|access-date=16 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160213011515/http://www.tribuneindia.com/2011/20110807/spectrum/book7.htm|archive-date=13 February 2016|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="biblio">{{cite web|url=http://hindustaniawaaz-rakhshanda.blogspot.com/2012/07/masooma-by-ismat-chughtai-review.html?m=1|title=Masooma by Ismat Chughtai - A review|last=Jalil|first=Rakhshanda|work=The Biblio|date=12 June 2012|access-date=16 September 2019}}</ref><ref name="asymptote">{{cite web|url=https://www.asymptotejournal.com/criticism/ismat-chughtais-short-stories/|title=Aamer Hussein reviews Ismat Chughtai's Short Stories|last=Hussein|first=Aamer|work=[[Asymptote (journal)|Asymptote]]|access-date=16 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190624020125/https://www.asymptotejournal.com/criticism/ismat-chughtais-short-stories/|archive-date=24 June 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> Her next work, the 1966 [[novella]] ''Saudai'' (''Obsession'') was based on the screenplay of 1951 film ''Buzdil'', which she co-wrote with Latif.<ref name="quartret">{{cite book |last1=Chughtai |first1=Ismat |title=A Chughtai Quartet: Obsession, The Wild One, Wild Pigeons, The Heart Breaks Free |date=2015 |publisher=Women Unlimited |isbn=9789385606045 |page=3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1T2SCgAAQBAJ&q=ismat+chughtai+saudai |language=en}}</ref> Commentators have noted that ''Saudai'' could never shed its structure and still read like a screenplay despite Chughtai's efforts.<ref name="dil">{{cite web|url=https://www.outlookindia.com/newswire/amp/four-novellas-by-ismat-chughtai-now-available-in-collection/846838|title=Four Novellas By Ismat Chughtai Now Available in Collection|date=27 June 2014|work=[[Outlook (Indian magazine)|Outlook]]|access-date=17 September 2019}}</ref>

Following a lukewarm reception for both ''Masooma'' and ''Saudai'',<ref name="parekh"/> Chughtai received significant praise for her fifth novel ''Dil ki Duniya'' (''The Heart Breaks Free'').<ref name="dil"/><ref name="hussein"/> Reviewing the novel, observers have placed it second only to ''Tedhi Lakeer'' in the canon of her work.<ref name="hussein"/><ref name="fournovellas">{{cite web |title=Four Novellas By Ismat Chughtai Now Available in Collection |url=https://www.outlookindia.com/newswire/story/four-novellas-by-ismat-chughtai-now-available-in-collection/846838 |website=[[Outlook (Indian magazine)|Outlook]] |access-date=6 October 2019 |date=27 June 2014}}</ref> 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 Duniya''{{’}}s influence would linger with me forever, and I'd find its thematic and stylistic echoes in my own stories".<ref name="hussein"/>

In the early 1970s, Chughtai wrote two novels, ''Ajeeb Aadmi'' (''A Very Strange Man'') and ''Jangli Kabootar'' (''Wild Pigeons'') that made use of her knowledge of the [[Hindi film industry]], which she had been a part of for the last couple of decades.<ref name="quartret"/><ref name="spectrum1">{{cite web |title=Story of a Genius |url=https://m.tribuneindia.com/2007/20071209/spectrum/book1.htm |last=Sharma |first=Aradhika |website=[[The Tribune (Chandigarh)|The Tribune]] |access-date=30 May 2020 |date=9 December 2007 }}{{Dead link|date=September 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> ''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.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.speakingtigerbooks.com/books/obsession-wild-pigeons/|title=Obsessions & Wild Pigeons|work=[[Speaking Tiger]]|access-date=29 May 2020|archive-date=25 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200925223857/https://www.speakingtigerbooks.com/books/obsession-wild-pigeons/|url-status=dead}}</ref> 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."<ref name="aijaz">{{cite web|url=https://mumbaimirror.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/Ismat-Chughtais-grandson-turns-director/articleshow/48473044.cms|title=Ismat Chughtai's grandson turns director|last=Iyer|first=Sanyukta|work=[[Mumbai Mirror]]|date=14 August 2015|access-date=29 May 2020}}</ref>

''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.<ref name="spectrum1"/> While there are several allusions to real-life figures including [[Meena Kumari]], [[Lata Mangeshkar]], and [[Mohammed Rafi]], members of the Dutt family and Rehman are never explicitly named.<ref name="spectrum1"/> Chughtai said of ''Ajeeb Aadmi'': "[In the novel], I go into [...] why girls run after him and producers like him, and the hell they make for these men and for their wives. The novel, which was released in the early 1970s, was praised for its bold nature and candour."<ref name="pinto">{{cite web|url=https://www.speakingtigerbooks.com/books/a-very-strange-man/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201025162919/https://www.speakingtigerbooks.com/books/a-very-strange-man/|url-status=dead|archive-date=25 October 2020|title=A Very Strange Man|work=[[Speaking Tiger]]|access-date=30 May 2020}}</ref>

Mumbai-based writer and journalist, [[Jerry Pinto]] noted the impact of ''Ajeeb Aadmi''{{'}}s initial release saying, "There hadn't been a more dramatic and candid account of the tangled emotional lives of Bollywood before this."<ref name="pinto"/> Writing for the ''[[Khaleej Times]]'' in 2019, Khalid Mohamed echoed the sentiment. He called the book a first of a kind tell-all book about the Hindi film industry, one that was "an eye-opener even for the know-alls of Bollywood". Mohamed also made a detailed note of Chughtai's candid style of writing, saying that she had an "instinctive gift for relating stories frankly and fearlessly".<ref name="khalid">{{cite web|url=https://m.khaleejtimes.com/wknd/bollywood/when-a-book-dared-to-chronicle-a-doomed-bollywood-romance|title=When a book dared to chronicle a doomed Bollywood romance|last=Mohamed|first=Khalid|work=[[Khaleej Times]]|access-date=30 May 2020|date=21 March 2019}}</ref>

===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.<ref name="wire2017">{{cite web|url=https://thewire.in/books/ismat-chughtai-birth-anniversary|title=Remembering Midnight's Magnificent Daughter Ismat Chughtai on Her Birth Anniversary|work=[[The Wire (India)|The Wire]]|access-date=19 September 2019|date=15 August 2017}}</ref> She died at her house in Mumbai on 24 October 1991, following the prolonged illness.<ref name="shah">{{cite web|url=http://www.milligazette.com/Archives/2005/01-15Feb05-Print-Edition/011502200561.htm|title=Ismat Chughtai — her life and ideals|last=Shah|first=Noor|work=[[The Milli Gazette]]|access-date=19 September 2019|date=15 February 2005}}</ref> 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."<ref name="hyderdailyo">{{cite web|url=https://www.dailyo.in/lite/arts/ismat-chughtai-urdu-literature-short-stories-lihaaf/story/1/18952.html|title=Ismat Chughtai dared to raise the veil of hypocrisies in Indian society|last=Hyder|first=Qurratulain|work=DailyO|access-date=19 September 2019}}</ref> As per most accounts, Chughtai was cremated at the [[Chandanwadi, Mumbai|Chandanwadi crematorium]], in accordance with her last wishes.<ref name="shah"/><ref name="tahira">{{cite web|url=https://thewire.in/books/the-beguiling-ismat-chugtai-through-her-own-words/|title=The Beguiling Ismat Chugtai, Through Her Own Words|last=Naqvi|first=Tahira|work=[[The Wire (India)|The Wire]]|access-date=19 September 2019|date=14 August 2015}}</ref>

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.{{efn|Sources.<ref name="popularity"/><ref name="kindle">{{cite web|url=http://kindlemag.in/crooked-line/|title=The Crooked Line|last=Jalil|first=Rakhshanda|work=[[Kindle Magazine ]]|access-date=8 May 2018|date=4 August 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180507222310/http://kindlemag.in/crooked-line/|archive-date=7 May 2018|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref name="asaduddinhbl">{{cite web|url=https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/columns/rasheeda-bhagat/the-powerful-isms-of-ismat/article22993188.ece|title=The powerful isms of Ismat|last=Bhagat|first=Rasheeda|work=[[Hindu Business Line]]|access-date=15 September 2019|date=29 March 2012}}</ref><ref name="dohath">{{cite web|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/sunday-times/deep-focus/Rediscovering-the-rebel/articleshow/46571585.cms|title=Rediscovering the rebel|last=Nair|first=Malini|work=[[The Times of India]]|access-date=17 September 2019|date=15 March 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171209231108/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/sunday-times/deep-focus/Rediscovering-the-rebel/articleshow/46571585.cms|archive-date=9 December 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>}} 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 [[Indian feudalism|feudal society]] and became a landmark for its early depiction of sex, still a taboo in modern [[Indian literature]].<ref name="Das1995">{{cite book|first=Sisir|last= Kumar Das|title=History of Indian Literature: 1911-1956, struggle for freedom : triumph and tragedy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sqBjpV9OzcsC&pg=PA348|date=1 January 1995|publisher=[[Sahitya Akademi]]|isbn=978-81-7201-798-9|pages=348}}</ref> ''Lihaaf'' has since been widely anthologised and has become one of Chughtai's most appreciated works.<ref name="Gopal2012">{{cite book|first=Priyamvada|last=Gopal|title=Literary Radicalism in India: Gender, Nation and the Transition to Independence|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lf8wfOR1058C&pg=PT83|date=2012|publisher=[[Routledge Press]]|isbn=978-1-134-33253-3|pages=83–84|access-date=26 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181023181837/https://books.google.com/books?id=lf8wfOR1058C&pg=PT83|archive-date=23 October 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

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".<ref name="naqvi"/> She separately cited the example of ''Jangli Kabootar'', which was one of the first novels in Chughtai's cannon to explore the theme of [[infidelity]]. Naqvi highlighted how despite having established herself as a significant voice in Urdu literature by this time, Chughtai still remained keen on probing new themes and expand the scope of her work.<ref name="quartret"/>

''Tedhi Lakeer'', which has come to be regarded as Chughtai's [[magnum opus]] is now considered to be one of the most significant works of [[Urdu literature]] by commentators and various media outlets.<ref name="patel"/><ref name="famousworks"/><ref name="magnum">{{cite web|url=https://indianexpress.com/article/who-is/who-is-ismat-chughtai-5316847/lite/|title=Who was Ismat Chughtai|work=[[The Indian Express]]|date=21 August 2018|access-date=17 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190415025042/https://indianexpress.com/article/who-is/who-is-ismat-chughtai-5316847/lite/|archive-date=15 April 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> 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]].<ref name="hanfi">{{cite web|url=https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HlJd2tOtfJw|title=Shamim Hanfi on Chughtai|work=[[Sahapedia]]|date=11 February 2016|access-date=17 September 2019|via=[[YouTube]]}}</ref> 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.<ref name="hussein">{{cite web|url=http://kindlemag.in/how-long-can-a-river-be-held-back-by-a-dam/|title=How long can a river be held back by a dam?|last=Hussein|first=Aamer|work=[[Kindle Magazine]]|date=4 August 2015|access-date=17 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180904131437/http://kindlemag.in/how-long-can-a-river-be-held-back-by-a-dam/|archive-date=4 September 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> 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 [[existentialism|existentialist]] and [[humanism|humanist]] affiliations.<ref name="bano"/><ref name="hussein"/>