Nandita Das helmed Manto is about a thought you cannot kill
- Arijit Bose
- Sep 21, 2018
- 3 min read
Nandita Das directorial Manto is not about a man it is more about a thought. It is about someone who wants to break free. Speak what he wishes to. Rise above the shrill rhetoric and prove that his voice is crucial in an age when voices are being suppressed. It is about living life on your own terms and seeing life beyond the usual black and white.
India is breaking away from the shackles of foreign rule and Pt Nehru is making his tryst with destiny speech when Saadat Hasan Manto is watching developments from sidelines. All this even as Hindu Muslim camaraderie is going off track with vicious attacks each other are launching against the other. This at a time when Partition is raising its ugly head.
The India-Pakistan partition is the film’s backdrop. The volatile situation then does not lose its steam in the current context.
Manto is broken completely. He has lost a son at a very tender age. He has memories of his mother which he holds dear, but the father he refuses to recall even in prayer. He wants to speak his mind about the atrocities that human kind face.
It is about the ugly side to partition, the pathos that prostitutes live with while selling their body and soul. He is also nursing a broken heart be it the distance from his beloved Mumbai or his love interest Ismat Chugtai.
Sipping liquor and smoking multiple cigarettes in a day, he is a complete recluse despite his finesse as a writer. It is a chance encounter with his friend that makes him realize that even he as a Muslim can get killed and he moves to Lahore. While Bollywood is harsh to him trying to chop off his lines from films and other artistic works of his, even Pakistan has very little to offer. Perhaps in one of the publishers words – his works are too hot to handle.
The film brings out his life by way of couplets. Stunning dialogues and some really eye catching scenes sum up his works. Add to that a case around his critically acclaimed Thanda Gosht that faced action on grounds of obscenity.
It covers in some detail the much publicized Thanda Gosht trial where two stalwarts Manto and Faiz Ahmed Faiz unfriend each other after a somewhat unpleasant encounter.
Manto is a commentary on how despite what is public perception of the Indo Pak bonding, locals still maintain a good rapport behind the shrill rhetoric that governments indulge in. Even a Pakistani calls for better way of announcing Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination by Nathuram Godse. The film brings out not just the element of normalizing sex by way of literature, but it also talks of how the flesh trade has that typical element of oppression and exploitation.
Das successfully tries to trace Manto’s inspirations in life — brothels, tales of sexual fantasies, melancholic set-ups among others.
Manto is powerful, unapologetic and a man with a sense of pride. He shows the mirror to the society and those at the helm of affairs.
The narrative captures origins of some of Manto’s stories like “Toba Tek Singh”, “Khol Do” and “Thanda Gosht”.
It is a film that keeps you glued to your seats. The inner turmoil and Manto’s frustrations when in Lahore are enhanced by the circumstances and times he lives in.
For literature aficionados the sight of Nawaz on screen is a sight to behold with his flawless delivery.
The mellifluous and mournful score by Zakir Hussain gives the narrative a third dimension. Among the notable faces are Rishi Kapoor, Javed Akhtar, Paresh Rawal, Divya Dutta, Neeraj Kabi and Ranvir Shorey.
Manto died in Lahore, Pakistan, in 1955, seven years after the Indian Independence. He had a 35 year long tryst with Bombay that was the love of his life. Admired by many and one who honed the skill to sting like a bee, rejection and grit made him the most realistic prose writer of his time.
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