'The City and the Dream') is a 1963 Hindi film directed by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas, about a young couple searching in vain for a home of their own in a metropolis, amidst the backdrop of rapidly developing city, and the many who flocked to it in hope of a better life.

It was based on Abbas's own story One Thousand Nights on a Bed of Stones, which describes the struggle in the life of pavement dwellers against the backdrop of rapid industrialization.

This was also seen in later films such as Roti Kapda Aur Makaan (1974) and Mani Kaul's Uski Roti (1969), as industrialization did not turn out to be a boon for the masses as promised.

[2] Abbas used his own experiences of sleeping on the footpath at one point in his life, as he had used in his three other films.

Though most scenes were shot outdoors, in Mumbai slums and on roads, on a shoestring budget, for crucial scenes, the cylindrical drainpipes were carried to the studios to recreate the life of the urban poor indoors, complete with slums and huts by the railway line.