Imtiaz Ali Taj; the Famous Urdu Prose Writer

I.A. Taj

Syed Imtiaz Ali Taj (سید امتیاز علی تاج) was born in 1900 in Lahore. He was a son of “Shamsul-Ulema” – Moulvi Mumtaz Ali from Deoband. He was one of the pioneers of Drama writing in Urdu language.

His most popular drama was “Anar Kali” which was written in 1922 and became a landmark in Urdu drama writing. This was later adapted into feature films in India and Pakistan. Its popularity raised the status of Imtiaz Ali Taj as a mature Urdu drama writer in literary circles.

Chacha Chakkan

Another drama which was liked by the audience was his funny creation “Chacha Chakan”.

Chacha Chakkan, who is similar the famous characters 'Uncle Podger' of the English dramatist Jerome, is a very funny character who thinks that he is very good in every job, but actually he, always, makes blunders and makes situations worse.

Chacha Chhakan remains until today the most humorous character in the Urdu literature

I.A. Taj Inro in Urdu

He graduated from the government college Lahore. He presented on stage some English Dramas after translation into Urdu. 1918 he began the literary magazine called 'Kehkashan' in collaboration with his friend, Maulana Abdul Majeed Salik and run it for three year successfully.

He rendered his services for “Risala Tehzeeb-e-Niswan” and monthly phool. The magazine "Tahzeeb-e-Niswan" was founded by his mother who was a well known literary personality of her time. In Phool he had the assistance of the famous short story writer Ghulam Abbas Ahmed as well as young Ahmed Nadeem Oasmi.He translated into Urdu Shakespeare's play 'A Mid Summer Nights Dream' and entitled it in 'Sawan Rain ka sapna'.

After the establishment of Pakistan, Syed lmtiaz Ali Taj conducted a daily feature 'Pakistan Hamara Hai' [Pakistan is our] for the Lahore station of the radio Pakistan. It was, no doubt, a popular programme. Apart from criticism on drama, he also wrote radio plays, novels, short stories and several film stories, some of them directed by him. As the Director of 'Majlis' he republished many critical works of Urdu literature. 

On 19th April, 1970 while he was asleep, he was shot dead by some unknown persons. His wife Hijab lmtiaz Ali was seriously wounded.