Like many directors of New Cinema the career of Saeed Akhtar Mirza started by making ad films and short films and then he joined the director`s course in at the FTII. His first feature films were Arvind Desai Ki Ajeeb Dastan (1978). It was produced by the Yukt Film Cooperative but his later films were either produced by NFDC or others. Saeed Mirza`s early films show him to be one of the most outstanding directors of New Cinema.

Till date Saeed Akhtar Mirza has made 16 films: 5 feature films, 3 television series, 1 short film and 7 documentaries in English. The screenplay for his first film was penned by the director and the dialogues were written by Vijay Tendulkar. In this the director attempts to fashion an autonomous aesthetic language in order to be able to put forward a Marxist social analysis of the upper middle and the upper urban classes.

In 1980 he made Albert Pinto ko Gussa Kyon Ata Hain? where the conflict between the individual and his environment is much more evolved and treated in a more alert and freer manner. The film also deals with the problems that plague the working classes of Mumbai. The film was also produced by Saeed Mirza, who also wrote the screenplay with Kundan Shah and had a cast of the best actors of New Cinema, Naseeruddin Shah, Shabana Azmi and Smita Patil.

His next film was Mohan Joshi Hazir Ho (1984). According to the director the film is about struggle and fighting and the message is conveyed powerfully but also humorously. This movie celebrates the human tenacity almost to its extreme lengths.

It was in the film Salim Langde pe Mat Ro (1989) that Mirza confronted the problems of a minority community in India. In fact he was dealing with his own community. It was produced NFDC and according to the director on closest to his heart. A combination of monologue, drama and philosophy this film is the outcome of the director`s reflections and introspections on the Muslim minority community.

Naseem (1995) is very different from Mirza`s earlier films with its silences, delicacies of sentiments and its nostalgia for an earlier age.