Transcending boundaries...
Manto is a story about creative rebels trying to make a statement on freedom of expression. Tahir Raj Bhasin feels this will help it strike a chord with everyone irrespective of region or nation. He says the film has a relevant subject as artistes and writers are facing trouble in expressing their opinion in many nations.
A rebel
With Manto, director Nandita Das is tracing the life of writer Saadat Hasan Manto, essayed by Nawazuddin Siddiqui. Manto won acclaim for penning an impressive body of work touching various genres — especially for weaving stories around the ordeal of partition as well as sexuality. It was the only Indian film in Un Certain Regard category at the 71st Cannes Film Festival. “There was global audience at the fest and they gave a standing ovation... The feedback that we got was that the story transcends borders, which is great,” Tahir said. “If you come to think about it, Manto was a maverick and a rebel who believed in creative freedom and freedom of speech. In today’s political scenario in a lot of countries, it is a major issue for artistes and writers to not be able to write what it is that they want to convey. There is an underlying universality in the subject,” he added. A challenging task Tahir is a part of the Manto universe as yesteryear actor Sunder Shyam Chadda, Manto’s close friend. Shyam Chadda made his debut with Gowandhi, but got his big ticket to fame with Majboor. He added more power to his star status with hits like Dillagi, Patanga and Samadhi. He died on April 25, 1951, after falling off a horse on the sets of the film Shabistan. Asked if it was challenging to bring a true story alive on the silver screen, Tahir said, “Yes, because it is someone’s life and it is about someone who has got relatives today who will be watching it.” Telling different stories Tahir has achieved a measure of as the villain in “Mardaani”. There are projects like Kai po che!, Force 2 and Time Out to his credit too. “In Mumbai, you don’t make choices. They choose you. My interest is to do interesting lead parts, to tell different stories and to surprise the audience. But as they say in Mumbai, everything is pre-written and it chooses you,” said the actor when questioned about what drives his choice of projects. —IANS
Is what Tahir Raj Bhasin feels Manto has power to do