Deccan Chronicle

Journey of Manto’s India, then and now

■ Das’ film gets magic from Siddiqui (Manto), Duggal (his wife) performanc­e

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Cannes, May 13: Writerdire­ctor Nandita Das’ gently subversive film Manto, starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Rasika Duggal, Rajshri Deshpande and Tahir Raj Bhasin premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on Sunday.

Competing in the Un Certain Regard section, the film’s screening began after a warm reception during which Das, looking exquisite in an ashes of roses saree, acknowledg­ed her “Baba”, painter Jatin Das, who was in the audience, and later basked in the standing ovation with her cast and crew as the credits rolled.

The film, whose script has been researched and written by Das, ploughs through the tragically short life and the ingenuous, searing body of work of one of the best short story writers the world is yet to acknowledg­e.

The film opens in 1940s in what was then Bombay — a city of filmmakers, struggling but exceptiona­lly talented writers where Manto lives with his wife Safia (Rasika Duggal) and daughter — and ends in Lahore in 1950s. It’s through this journey that the film narrates the bloody tale of a nation splitting into two as it notes the moment when Manto, a man in love with Bombay, decided it was time to pack bags and move to Pakistan.

In Mumbai we meet Manto’s friend and coaccused Ismat Chughtai (Rajshri Deshpande), his dear friend and 1940s actor Shyam Chaddha (Tahir Raj Bhasin), a very young Ashok Kumar at Bombay Talkies, Jaddan Bai (Nargis’ mother) and K. Asif, all conjuring together a film industry in its golden ear.

The film continuall­y switches between Manto’s life and work. When it’s with Safia, we see the ordeal the family of the pencil-wielding, unflinchin­gly honest chronicler of human behaviour in a time of momentous change and violence was subjected to, and when it’s with his friends and editors, there are references to his works. Manto treats us to dramatised vignettes of his short stories, including Toba Tek Singh, Khol Do, Thanda Gosht, Dus Rupay and 100 Watt Bulb, as well as the obscenity charges — levelled six times in court but amounting to nothing except heartache and hardship for the writer and his family.

This shifting between real life and fiction is seamless for those familiar with the man and his writing, but is likely to baffle others as little explanatio­n, preface is offered.

But these bits — like when Manto says in court, “If you cannot bear these stories then the society is unbearable” in defence of his stories which strip down human behaviour to its best and worst — offer an insight into the journalist­ic standards of truth telling Manto stuck to in his fiction writing despite criticism, including, from Faiz Ahmed Faiz, and court cases.

Das’ film gets its magic from the nostalgia it seduces us with and two performanc­es — that of Manto by Siddiqui, and his wife Safia, played by Rasika Duggal.

 ??  ?? CANNES DIARY SUPARNA SHARMA
CANNES DIARY SUPARNA SHARMA
 ??  ?? A still from Manto
A still from Manto

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