Saeed Mirza is one of the Grand Old Men of Indian art cinema. As a leading light of the Indian New Wave, Mirza has illuminated the concerns of Mumbai’s working class and minority communities through the movies he made between the 1970s and 1990s – Arvind Desai Ki Ajeeb Dastaan, Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyon Aata Hai, Salim Langde Pe Mat Ro.

Mirza continued to explore the interplay of idea, form and progressive politics in his television shows, notably Nukkad (1986), and his documentaries. He is now 82 years old, keener on literature than cinema. In recent years, Mirza has written several books: Ammi: Letter to a Democratic Mother, I Know the Psychology of Rats and Memory in the Age of Amnesia.

Mirza is the subject of a retrospective at the International Film Festival of Kerala (December 12-December 19). Three of his five features will be screened– Arvind Desai Ki Ajeeb Dastaan, Salim Langde Pe Mat Ro and Naseem.

Mirza also made Mohan Joshi Haazir Ho! in 1984. Another movie from 2009, Ek Tho Chance, which starred Ali Fazal in one of his earliest roles, was never released.

Mirza and his brother, the director Aziz Mirza, are second-generation filmmakers. Their father, Akhtar Mirza, was a leading screenwriter in such Hindi film hits as Naya Daur (1957), Waqt (1960) and Dhund (1973).

Saeed Mirza didn’t follow in his father’s footsteps initially, choosing instead to make commercials...

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