The story follows a wandering character named Azad and his companion, Khoji, from the streets of late-nineteenth-century Lucknow to the battlefields of the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878) in Constantinople and Russia.

Sarshar conceived of writing Fasana-e-Azad after the success of the articles he contributed to Avadh Akhbar under the title "Zarafat" ("Wit and Humour").

[3] These columns, which eventually made up the first 500 pages of the book, satirize urban life, usually centering on a wandering figure such as Azad or a minor character.

[4] This was in keeping with the influence of Charles Dickens's The Pickwick Papers and Miguel de Cervantes' Don Quixote on Sarshar.

Sarshar believed that such an education would improve the country and its people; pleasure in reading humorous articles would encourage refinement and higher thought.

[8] Azad, with no family history, wanders around the city; he encounters all kinds of people and observes Lucknow's changing urban milieu.

They have a number of adventures in Turkey and Russia; several noblewomen fall love with Azad, who remains more-or-less true to Husn Ara.

[7] He becomes the father of twins and is well-known and respected, devoting a great deal of time to the propagation of new ideas, education, commerce and industry.

The third volume was serialized monthly from February 1882 to January 1883 and was published in book form, with an initial print run of 200 copies and a cost of three rupees, in June 1883.

[16] According to Firoz Hissain, Fasana-e-Azad's success was unprecedented in the history of Urdu literature; it was read and enjoyed by every segment of society.

[1] Reviewers praised Fasana-e-Azad for its portrayals of Lucknow's marketplaces, fairs and diverse social classes, presented with a liveliness and accuracy considered unprecedented in Urdu literature.

[21] Saksena describes Khoji as a "unique character in the whole range of Urdu literature" and as "the most original and wonderful creation of humorous art".

Ralph Russell calls it "a work which brought permanently into Urdu literature some of the major elements of the modern novel.

[28] Mohammad Asaduddin highlights the way that Sarshar depicts ordinary life with unembellished language as an important novelistic trait.

[25] Plot and characters, and especially their failure to conform to Victorian standards of literary realism, are common grounds for the assessment that Fasana-e-Azad is not quite a novel.