He was a prolific writer, penning over 20 novels, 30 collections of short stories and scores of radio plays in Urdu, and later, after partition in 1947, took to writing in Hindi as well.

The Giver of Grain – an obsequious appellation used by Indian peasants for their feudal land-owners), was made into the film Dharti Ke Lal (1946) by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas – which led to his being offered work regularly as a screenwriter by Bollywood, including such popular hits as Mamta (1966) and Sharafat (1970).

Mitti Ke Sanam, one of his most popular novels, is about the childhood memories of a young boy who lived with his parents in Kashmir.

In this novel, he brilliantly picturised the sufferings of the people during that time through a selfish young man's feelings, who himself was a gaddar (betrayer).

[5] His literary masterpieces on the Bengal famine and the savagery and barbarism that took place at the time of the partition of India in 1947 are some of the finest specimens of modern Urdu literature, but at other times, too, he continued relentlessly to critique the abuse of power, poverty and the suffering of the wretched of the earth; but above all he never stopped protesting casteism, fanaticism, communal violence and terror.

[1] He had just started to write a satirical essay entitled Adab baray-e-Batakh (Literature for a duck), and wrote just one line Noorani ko bachpan hi se paltoo janwaron ka shauq tha.

Kabootar, bandar, rang barangi chiriyaan… (since childhood Noorani was fond of pet animals such as pigeons, monkeys, multi-coloured birds…).