He undertook many translations of Shakespeare's plays into Urdu, including A Midsummer Night's Dream as Sawan Rain Ka Sapna.

[2][4] Anarkali, (literal meaning:"Bud of Pomegranate"[5][7]) written in 1922, is a romantic play based on a quasi-mythical legend.

[4][8] It tells the story of a beautiful slave girl named Anarkali (a courtesan) who falls in love with Prince Salim, but the romance ultimately leads to her tragic death.

Anarkali (birth name was Nadira Begum or Sharf-un-Nissa) had come to Lahore from Iran with a traders' caravan as a young girl.

Yet this tragic love saga persisted and stayed alive among the common public and ended up becoming a popular folktale.

[9][5] The first historical mention of Anarkali is found in the travelogue of the British tourist and trader, William Finch (merchant) who toured Lahore around the same time when this love saga took place - from 1608 to 1611.

[9] Finch's version of this tragic love saga is that Anarkali was actually one of the wives of Emperor Akbar and the mother of his son Danial Shah.

[9][5] Imtiaz Ali Taj's later-written novel Anarkali (published in 1922)[1][4] is said to be "a milestone in the annals of Urdu drama".

[5][10] He modified the play in 1930, with a reprint in 1931, in the popular "modern prose genre" which became a basis for several feature films from India and Pakistan.

[5] Imtiaz Ali Taj provided a link between Agha Hashr, who was known as the "Shakespeare of India", and contemporary Pakistani playwrights.

In this film produced by K. Asif, there was a twist to the story through a happy ending with Emperor Akbar finally being clement towards Anarkali.