The 31st of October 1914: Indian soldiers from the 129th regiment, the Duke of Connaught's Own Baluchis, are overrun by Germans in the Hollebeke area of Ypres, Belgium. For 10 hours, 26-year-old Khudadad Khan holds back the enemy troops, continuing to fight almost single-handedly as his comrades fall around him. Finally incapacitated by his wounds, Khan is left for dead by the Germans, but somehow manages to crawl back behind Allied lines and lives to tell the tale. This incredible effort buys enough time for reinforcements to be deployed, and Khan becomes the first Indian soldier to be awarded a Victoria Cross medal.
As the World War One centenary commemorations continue, a new play by Ishy Din aims to shed light on the often overlooked contributions made by Khan and other South Asian volunteer soldiers. Directed by Curve Leicester's Suba Das, Wipers takes its title from the name given to Ypres by British troops, and will run at Coventry's Belgrade Theatre from 12 to 21 May. What's On spoke to Ishy Din to find out more.
“A couple of years ago, I was commissioned by Leicester Curve to write a play highlighting the contribution of South Asian soldiers in World War One,” explains Din. “I wasn't given any particular remit beyond that, but one of the first things that came up when I started researching was this chap called Khudadad Khan. I found out that he's actually quite revered, especially in Pakistan and amongst fellow soldiers.”
Situated in the Chakwal District, Khan's former home in Dab is now part of modern Pakistan, and a statue of him can be seen at the Pakistan Army Museum in Rawalpindi. But the huge respect for Khan both at home and elsewhere presented Din with something of a challenge.
“I felt like I'd be doing him a disservice if I put him right at the centre of the play. You need to add texture to your characters and I wasn't very comfortable making things up about him, so the play actually follows four of his colleagues who’ve been ordered to secure a barn while he's out fighting. There's an officer called Thomas, who’s quite young and inexperienced, and then there are three soldiers from India called Sadiq, Adi and Ayub. Essentially, over the course of those 10 hours they realise that they'll have to work together in order to survive, and they learn that heroism comes in many forms.”
The cut-down history of the First World War that most children learn in schools today barely touches on the support provided by international soldiers from across the British Empire. Though Khan and others were honoured with medals, knowledge of their deeds may not have been widespread even at the time, since different regiments tended to operate separately. For Din, researching the history has been eye-opening.
“The really interesting thing was realising how little I knew, and by extension, how little everyone knows about the contribution made by these men. I found out that the different army regiments were actually very distinct entities, so even though the Indian Army had mostly British officers, it had its own methods that were adopted and adapted from Indian traditions.” 
From his award-winning 2012 play Snookered to his standalone Channel Four comedy Doughnuts, most of Din's previous work has been set in the present day, so writing a historical piece has been a new experience for him.
“In the writing world, there's this long-standing idea that you should write what you know, and so most of my previous work has been about contemporary British Asian life, but it's been really interesting to write about a different world and a different time. Even though it's set in 1914, I think there's a universality about the characters - we can still connect with them emotionally, and that's timeless.”
One advantage Din had in imagining that world was a family history of military service, as well as past experience of writing about soldiers. His 2013 short film, Our Lad, concerned a young man and his struggles to fit in, both with his colleagues in the army, and with his family at home.
“I don't know of any family that served in the First World War, but my dad was in the army, and I have great uncles and grandfathers who were in the British Indian Army during the Second World War, before partition and independence,” he said.
As things move forward, Din continues to work closely with the production team, helping to take the play from page to stage.
“It's been a very collaborative process. I get emails from designers and all sorts of people letting me know what's happening with different aspects of the show, and I'll be part of the rehearsals too. A few of the actors we got in to do workshops during the drafting process were people who were already on my radar, and some of those guys just seemed to inhabit the characters I'd written completely, which was brilliant.”
Once it's finished, Din is also hoping to catch the play at the various venues that it will visit on its tour. Coincidentally, his previous work includes a short film directed by Dawn Walton for Eclipse, whose production of American classic A Raisin In The Sun is also showing as part of the Belgrade's Hidden Histories season, alongside Wipers and Liz Mytton's Red Snapper.
“Dawn's absolutely fantastic and she's doing some great stuff, so I'm really glad to be part of this season with her. Hopefully we'll get to meet up at the Belgrade at some point. I've never been there before, but I like to see how my work translates onto different stages, so it'll be great to come in and check out the building. My work is nearly done now, so by then I'll be able to just sit back and - I don't know if ‘enjoy’ is the right word - but to experience it, anyway!”
Since first entering a short story into a competition with Radio Five Live, Din has come a long way in his writing career. At the time, he was working as a cab driver in his hometown of Middlesborough, absorbing stories from his passengers. Today, his ambitious upcoming projects include an original legal drama, a feature film, and a pilot for a show called Midnight Dreams that's been commissioned by the BBC.
“It's still early days and there's lots of development to be done, so I'm reluctant to say too much at this stage, but it's exciting to be able to base those projects in my world, in Asian communities in the north.” 
He'll also be writing a script for the first season of an upcoming Channel Four series called The ABC, created by East Is East writer Ayub Khan Din. Set in Lancashire's Arnold Braithwaite College, the show will follow new headteacher Emma Hussein as she rises to the challenges of running a multicultural school.
“At the moment, I'm only contracted to write one episode, but of course I'd like to write all of them!” Din laughs. “Unfortunately, that's not my decision, but Channel Four certainly have high hopes for the series and want it to be something that returns for several seasons, so hopefully there'll be more further down the line.”

Wipers shows at the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry from Thursday 12 to Saturday 21 May. Click here for more