Inder Raj Anand (died 6 March 1987) was an Indian film dialogue and screenwriter in Hindi cinema, who worked on many Raj Kapoor films, starting with Aag (1948), Aah (1953), Anari (1959) and Sangam (1963).[1] While formally referred to as a writer for Hindi films, he was actually an Urdu writer,[2] writing his scripts and dialogues in Urdu.[3]
He was father to actor-director Tinnu Anand and producer Bittu Anand. Inder's grandson is noted film director Siddharth Anand (Salaam Namaste (2005) and Anjaana Anjaani (2010)).[4] Famous director Mukul Anand was Inder's nephew. Shahenshah, starring Amitabh Bachchan, was Inder's last film as a writer. It was produced by his son, Bittu, and was directed by Tinnu. Shahenshah was released after Inder's death and it became one of the biggest hits of that year.
JA: I write dialogue in Urdu, but the action and descriptions are in English. Then an assistant transcribes the Urdu dialogue into Devnagari because most people read Hindi. But I write in Urdu. Not only me, I think most of the writers working in this so-called Hindi cinema write in Urdu: Gulzar, or Rajinder Singh Bedi or Inder Raj Anand or Rahi Masoom Raza or Vahajat Mirza, who wrote dialogue for films like Mughal-e-Azam and Gunga Jumna and Mother India. So most dialogue-writers and most song-writers are from the Urdu discipline, even today.