[3] Born on 12 November 1915 in Qila Patthargarh, Najibabad, in the Bijnor district of Uttar Pradesh in 1915.

[5][6] He gained his initial education at Bijnor, where he came in contact with poet and scholar Khurshid ul Islam, who taught at Aligarh Muslim University and developed a long association with Ralph Russell.

[9] He left behind a substantial legacy for new generation of poets to follow which explores new trends and themes in modern Urdu poetry giving a new direction to the modern and contemporary Urdu nazm with emphasis on philosophical humanism.

His first landmark movie was Kanoon (1960 film), which became a big hit despite the fact that it had no songs or comedy sequences.

Other important movies to which he contributed as a script writer were Dharmputra (1961) – for which he received a filmfare award – Gumrah, Waqt, Patther ke Sanam, and Daagh.