Having watched the soul-stirring teaser in December 2017, I’d been looking forward to the portrayal of the dynamic and versatile Saadat Hasan Manto by the brilliant Nandita Das with much hope. With the release of the official trailer on Independence Day this year, my expectations grew higher; but I was being hard on myself for not getting too exuberant about it yet, because of my bizarre experience with the release of Sanju in June. The teaser and the trailer so on point, but the movie was a slap of disappointment on my face.
However, with optimum expectations I stepped into the theatre on September 27th to experience the life of Manto, hiding my excitement underneath. And what unravelled during the next two hours restored my faith in cinema and the format of biopics in particular.
All the elements of this film were layered perfectly to convey every emotion quite convincingly and provoke empathy in audience for all the characters, be it the ones that were a part of the biopic itself or the ones in Manto’s theatrical stories. The most impactful constituent, for me, still remains the impeccable dialogue deliveries by the extremely talented Nawazuddin Siddiqui, which are still echoing at the back of my head. I can distinctly recall feeling those goosebumps in my body when I heard him orate those soulful speeches of Manto so skillfully, on the big screen.
How do you get out of thinking about “Jab ghulam the to aazadi ka khwab dekhte the, ab aazad hain to kaun sa khwab dekhein?” or “Main toh bas apni kahaniyon ko aaine samjhta hu…jismein samaaj apne aap ko dekh sake”, for example? How do you forget the nonchalantly woven humorous little anecdote of Hameeda and Rashid, while sunbathing in the garden with Safia? How do you stop admiring him after witnessing so closely what he stood for? How do you unfeel what partition did to humanity? How do you get over the traumatising closing statement of insanity “oopad di guddud di annexe di…bedhyan di moong di dal of Pakistan and Hindustan and Manto”?
Saadat Hasan sure died at 42, but Manto will keep on living infinitely in our hearts. He will always remind us to stand by truth and what we believe in, even if it means being one among millions to go against the hegemonic ideology of the society. He will always inspire us to mold our art into reality.
Another aspect of the film that appealed to me is its diverse casting lineup. Ranging from the polished and effortless acting of Rasika Dugal, Rajshri Deshpande, Tahir Bhasin, Tillotama Shome, Divya Dutta, and Ranvir Shorey, you get to witness the flawless character portrayals by veterans such as Ila Arun, Rishi Kapoor, and Paresh Rawal, to name a few, in a single screening who completely steal the show.
This artwork will always remind me of what the “satiation” of experiencing a film feels like after having invoked high hopes with the teaser and the trailer.
P. S. Nandita Das, thank you for creating this gem of a biopic and not to forget, for “Introducing Javed Akhtar”.
Self and the Other 