of a young idealist journalist Puran and his beloved Asha. They struggle against the fundamentalist forces through the power of pen. Puran works as a journalist in a Newspaper called “Sansaar”. When the owner of the newspaper gets involved with wrong doers, the hero abandons it and launches his own newspaper with the title “Naya Sansaar” and compels the reactionary powers to bow down. To some extent the idealism of the protagonist matches with that of the author and reflects the progressive stance of Abbas. “ Mei Harijan Ki chhori”, “Akhbaar ka Daftar He Ye”, “Ek Naya Sansaar Basa Lein” were the popular songs of the film. The progressive message of building up of a society free from the stigma of untouchability was conveyed by the film Besidesthe main cast of Ashok Kumar and Renuka Devi, the dancer Ajuri also performed many dances carrying the message of the film.

Dharati Ke Lal (1946) was a film made by Abbas for Indian Peoples’ Theatre Association (IPTA). It was based on Bijan Bhattacharya’s play “Nabanna” and Krishna Chander’s story “Annadata”.Based on the famine of Bengal, this film portrays the pain and the grief of the exodus of peasants amidst famine and war. At the end they return to their land and devise the method of collective farming. It was similar to the idea of communes in the erstwhile Soviet Union. AliSardar Zafri, the noted Progressive poet, Nemi Chand Jain,Vamik and Prem Dhavan wrote the lyrics for this film. The main cast of the film included Shambhu Mitra, Balraj