A writer, director and poet, Kamal Amrohi is renowned as the man who wrote for the 1939 superhit Pukar and the 1971 megahit Pakeezah. Other films to his credit are Mahal (1949), Shankar Hussain (1977), Dil Apna Aur Preet Parayi, and the 1983 film Razia Sultan. Be they historicals, costume dramas or socially relevant, the one thing the films had in common was a powerful delineation of character and dialogue. Kamal Amrohi (real name: Syed Amir Haider Kamal) himself remained an enigma.