Bollywood: Dev Anand was introduced by this director

Bollywood: August 1, 1948. A few days before India's first Independence Day anniversary was due to be celebrated, a Hindi film ' Ziddi' was released which starred an array of newcomers like Dev Anand, Kamini Kaushal and Pran. It was directed by Shaheed Latif and based on a story by the famous Urdu writer Ismat Chughtai, whom the director married.

As playback singers, Kishore Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar too sang their first duet song in this movie, which heralded the launch of the former, who later went on to be known as a versatile actor-singer, producer, director in Hindi cinema.

In a span of 25+ years, Latif directed around 15 films. He is known for giving a break to lyricist Kaifi Azmi and was part of the radical milieu which dominated the meaningful cinema movement of the cinema world prevalent then.