Ishwar Chander Nanda (1892-1966) is the first theatre person who laid firm foundations of realistic drama in Punjabi by writing and staging three full-length and a dozen one-act plays. A playwright, director and actor-Nanda wrote original plays on contemporary social problems. He is the pioneer playwright whose characters speak a simple, racy, idiomatic language actually spoken by the Punjabis in villages and towns. His plays enact the conflict between the old orthodox people who want to stick to outmoded social and religious customs and the educated young men and women who want to discard the rotten repressive rituals. Nanda sought fresh stories, themes and characters from the life around him in preference to the imitation of other playwrights, Indian or foreign.