Manto review: Nandita Das succeeds in saying many things through the enigmatic writer

Manto, in fact, is the ideal character to make a film on because his is not just an individual’s story it’s a story of a person torn between two countries, between faith and ideologies, between changing and challenging times.

But to execute it in the way it could reflect all this is rather challenging and Nandita Das has done a commendable job of it.

Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s acting prowess has made the film more gripping. Rasika Duggal in the role of Manto’s wife, Safia impresses as a soft-spoken accommodative woman. Though the role of Tahir Raj Bhasin as the Bollywood star of the 40s is very brief but he too makes a mark in this brief appearance

Nandita Das deftly transports the audience to that period. While portraying important developments of Manto’s life mainly through two of his stories, Thanda Ghosht and Toba Tek Singh, she effectively conveys what it means to be a sensitive and honest writer in tumultuous political times.

A remarkable person a genuine and sensitive writer, Manto gradually fades into an alcoholic. That trauma of a writer, of a person amid a political whirlpool that drastically changes relationships and sense of belonging; that tests the humane values and reflects the barbarism and brutality people stoop to is reflected almost poetically through the film.

Although the court proceedings regarding Manto’s controversial story ‘Thanda Ghosht’ shows the fight between liberal writers and the so-called torchbearers of morality during the 40s, we are at once reminded of the times we are living with now, after almost 70 years of independence and nothing seems to have changed much.

In one court scene another great Urdu writer/ poet, Faiz Ahmed Faiz is seen testifying in the court that though Manto’s story does not fall into the category of porn literature but also does not meet the standards of literature. Manto is hurt and disturbed by this. This small episode interestingly carries the undercurrents of the scuffle between writers in the literary circles which continues across the world and times.

The film also highlights the life in the cities of Mumbai and Lahore. Manto is torn between his love for both the cities and tragically he must choose one. Without much melodrama, while leaving Mumbai, Manto’s asks his friend Shyam not to pay his one Rupee debt, because he wants to remain indebted to the city. This simple gesture moves you much more deeply than any loud dialogue, music or song can.

In no way this film can be ignored and not because Nandita Das excels as a director and Nawazudin mesmerises as Manto but because this realisation becomes stronger through the film that despite a passage of 70 long years, nothing much has changed in our society. We continue to fight over Hindu and Muslim, the fight between liberal writers and so-called champions of morality still continues albeit more violently. Today, more than ever do we need writers like Manto who had so honestly remarked, “If you cannot bear these (my) stories then the society is unbearable. Who am I to remove the clothes of this society, which itself is naked. I don't even try to cover it, because it is not my job, that's the job of dressmakers.”