Munshi Premchand was born on July 31, was an Indian writer famous for his modern Hindi-Urdu literature. He began writing under the pen name "Nawab Rai" but switched to Premchand, Munshi being an honorary prefix. A novel writer and dramatist, he has been referred to as the Upanyas Samrat by writers. His works include more than dozen novels, around 250 short stories, several essays and translations of a number of foreign literary works into Hindi in a lifespan of just 56 years. Satyajit Ray's 'Shatranj Ke Khiladi' & Hrishikesh Mukherjee's 'Gaban' are adaptations of his works.
Premchand was known to address various social issues of society in the hundreds of novels and plays that he penned down throughout his life. His work captures the imagination of people till date and his signature working-class characters remain evergreen. Through his stories, Premchand took his readers through the social upheavals of 20th century India. His characters were usually strong and resilient. His women characters were bold, strong and with a mind of their own. But at the same time, Premchand had an ideal woman in his mind, a woman who is docile, obedient and chaste. He was quite critical of the urban and Westernised career woman. He was equally judgemental of men, portraying many as irresponsible, selfish and egoistic.
The emperor of novels was a progressive thinker. He chaired the very first meeting of the Progressive Writers Association in India in 1935, a movement that was to deeply influence Hindi cinema.