Feminist writer Ismat Chughtai honored with Google doodle on 107th birth anniversary

Google dedicated a doodle to iconic feminist writer Ismat Chughtai on her 107th birth anniversary on Tuesday, owning to her era of free speech, social liberation and ravaged patriarchy.

Chughtai goes remembered for her fearless writing on societal scandals and feuds, human rights, middle class morality, and having questioned double standards of patriarchy.

She was inspired by her elder brother, Mirza Azeem Baig Chughtai, who was known for his humorous writings.

Chugtai, born an Uttar Pradesh native on August 21, in 1911 was the ninth of ten children and obtained her Bachelor of Arts and bachelor of Education degrees.

Her prominent pieces include ‘Lihaf’— in which she penned down a relationship between a wealthy landlord’s wife and her female servant. She wrote ‘Gainda’ which was about a domestic worker falling in love with an upper caste man.

Some of her work also reflected in Bollywood movies Deepa Mehta’s 'Fire' (1996) and Abhishek Chaubey’s 'Dedh Ishqiya' (2014).

She also wrote for three Bombay Talkies productions that were directed by her husband Shahid Latif - 'Ziddi' (1948), 'Arzoo' (1950) and 'Soney Ki Chidiya' (1958).

Owing to her literary contributions, Chughtai was honored with Padma Shri by the government of India in 1976.

Chughtai remained rebellious till her last breath and passed away in October 1991.