With a style characterised by literary realism, Chughtai established herself as a significant voice in the Urdu literature of the twentieth century, and in 1976 was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India.

[1] The family moved frequently as Chughtai's father was a civil servant; she spent her childhood in cities including Jodhpur, Agra, and Aligarh—mostly in the company of her brothers as her sisters had all got married while she was still very young.

[9] Chughtai's continued association with the Progressive Writers' Movement had significant bearings on her writing style; she was particularly intrigued by Angarey, a compilation of short-stories written in Urdu by members of the group including Jahan, Sajjad Zaheer, Sahibzada Mahmuduzaffar and Ahmed Ali.

Chughtai later discussed the similarity in themes and style of the novel with the works of the romantic novelist Hijab Imtiaz Ali, citing her as another early influence.

[11] Critic and short story writer Aamer Hussein, in a 2015 retrospective review, likened Chughtai's "oracular voice, which didn't comment or explain, but studded the narrative with poetic observations" to that of American author Toni Morrison.

[4] Upon release, Lihaaf attracted criticism for its suggestion of female homosexuality and a subsequent trial, with Chughtai being summoned by the Lahore High Court to defend herself against the charges of "obscenity".

Chughtai fared better in the public eye, having garnered support from such fellow members of the Progressive Writers' Movement as Majnun Gorakhpuri and Krishan Chander.

Regardless, she detested the media coverage of the whole incident, which in her view weighted heavily upon her subsequent work; "[Lihaaf] brought me so much notoriety that I got sick of life.

[18] Chughtai's exploration of the "inner realms of women's lives" was well received by critics who variously described her work in Tedhi Lakeer as "probing and pertinent"[19] and "empowering".

[20] She herself recalled her creative process in the 1972 interview, saying she found inspiration from the small incidents that she would witness around her and even the personal conversations that took place amongst the women in her family, "I write about people I know or have known.

Chughtai expanded her career into directing with the 1953 film Fareb, which featured an ensemble cast of Amar, Maya Daas, Kishore Kumar, Lalita Pawar, and Zohra Sehgal.

[23] Sone Ki Chidiya has been described as a significant production for "[chronicling] a heady time in Indian cinema" and showcasing the "grime behind the glamour" of the film industry.

[33] Following a lukewarm reception for both Masooma and Saudai,[2] Chughtai received significant praise for her fifth novel Dil ki Duniya (The Heart Breaks Free).

Dil Ki Duniya, much like Tedhi Lakeer, is autobiographical in nature as Chughtai drew heavily from her own childhood in Bahraich, Uttar Pradesh.

Comparing the two, Hussein says, "if Tedhi Lakeer impressed me with its boldness, range and its credentials as a major novel, Dil ki Duniya's influence would linger with me forever, and I'd find its thematic and stylistic echoes in my own stories".

[10] In the early 1970s, Chughtai wrote two novels, Ajeeb Aadmi (A Very Strange Man) and Jangli Kabootar (Wild Pigeons) that made use of her knowledge of the Hindi film industry, which she had been a part of for the last couple of decades.

"[37] Ajeeb Aadmi similarly narrates the life of Dharam Dev, a popular leading man in Bollywood and the impact that his extra-marital affair with Zareen Jamal, a fellow actress has on the lives of the people involved.

[35] While there are several allusions to real-life figures including Meena Kumari, Lata Mangeshkar, and Mohammed Rafi, members of the Dutt family and Rehman are never explicitly named.

"[38] Mumbai-based writer and journalist, Jerry Pinto noted the impact of Ajeeb Aadmi's initial release saying, "There hadn't been a more dramatic and candid account of the tangled emotional lives of Bollywood before this.

[41][43] Following the translation of numerous of her works into English, a renewed interest in the Urdu literature of the twentieth century, and subsequent critical reappraisals, Chughtai's status as a writer rose.

[a] Critical reappraisals for her works began with rereadings of Lihaaf, which in the intervening years has attached a greater significance; it was noted for its portrayal of the insulated life of a neglected wife in the feudal society and became a landmark for its early depiction of sex, still a taboo in modern Indian literature.

In a 1993 retrospective piece, Naqvi also countered the perceived scope of Chughtai's writings, saying that her work was "neither confined to nor exhausted" by the themes central to Lihaaf: "she had much, much more to offer".

Naqvi highlighted how despite having established herself as a significant voice in Urdu literature by this time, Chughtai still remained keen on probing new themes and expand the scope of her work.

[32] Tedhi Lakeer, which has come to be regarded as Chughtai's magnum opus is now considered to be one of the most significant works of Urdu literature by commentators and various media outlets.

[49] Hussein comparably calls it one of the best novels of Urdu language and notes that Chughtai combines all her literary influences and her own lived experiences to create a radical text.

[10] Commentators have also compared Chughtai's writing style in the novel to that of French writer and intellectual Simone de Beauvoir, based on the duo's existentialist and humanist affiliations.

[51][52] In Chughtai's formative years, Nazar Sajjad Hyder had established herself an independent feminist voice, and the short stories of two very different women, Hijab Imtiaz Ali and Rashid Jehan, were also a significant early influence.