Wajahat Mirza

Who was Wajahat Mirza?

Wajahat Mirza, also known as Vajahat Mirza and Wajahat Mirza Changezi, was an Indian screenwriter and film director who has penned the dialogues of some of the most successful films in India during the 50's & 60's.

He was born in Sitapur, a small town 89 kilometers from Lucknow. While studying at Jubilee College Mirza became acquainted with cinematographer Krishan Gopal of Calcutta, and worked as his assistant. He later co-produced with singer Midgan Kumar a movie called Anookhi Moohabat in Bombay. Mirza became a dialogue and screenplay writer and was also one of the first Indians to be nominated for an Oscar for the movie Mother India.

Mirza won Filmfare Best Dialogue Award twice, in 1961 for Mughal-e-Azam, and in 1962 for Ganga Jamuna.

In a career spanning well over 50 years, Wajahat Mirza wrote the Dialogue for 31 Movies in which he also contributed as screenplay writer for 6 and wrote stories for 2. Early in his career, he also directed 5 movies.

He died in Karachi in 1990.