violence in fits of blind passion, of ordinary human beings – men and women!”

Khwaja Ahmad Abbas, while making his films also chose young men and women from the ordinary life as actors. In Dharti Ke Lal, a film that he made for the Progressive writers Association of India, it was principally decided that the cast will include the members of the Association only. Literature, journalism and films were the media to approach the masses and depict their lives with a mission to bring about a progressive transformation in their lives. This was perhaps the motto behind all his works. The short stories are no exception. Carol J. Slingo while paying K.A. Abbas a tribute at the time of his death rightly said-

“Khwaja Ahmed Abbas died on June 1,1987 after 41 years as the most prominent voice of the left in Indian commercial films. While other political filmmakers addressed their work to educated viewers, he spent his life trying to reach the mass, more or less uneducated, audience of millions.

Works Cited

Abbas,K.A.Blood and stones and other stories. Bombay: Hind Kitabs. 1947.Print

The stories of Khwaja Ahmad Abbas focus the much talked about “Common Man”. He is a writer who consciously depicts the tales of those ordinary people who accomplished heroic deeds simply by virtue of their undaunted spirit and the sheer will to survive. Abbas belongs to the tradition of Dr. Mulk Raj Anand who created a hero like Bakha, a scavenger, in his classic novel the Untouchable. Anand was inspired by Mahatma Gandhi and his movement against