Manto movie director: Nandita Das
Manto movie cast: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Rasika Dugal, Rajshri Deshpande, Tahir Raj Bhasin, Rishi Kapoor, Paresh Rawal
Manto movie rating: 4 stars
Biopics are the trend nowadays but this is the first time when a writer’s life has been made into a film. The story unfolds with a reader who leaves concerns of life and death behind to approach the great man.The reader expresses his admiration and enquires why is his column not there in the latest issue of his favourite periodical to which Manto replies, “Something political must have taken up the pages”.
This is the time when the country is being ripped apart. There are riots between the Hindus and Muslims. They are all in a dilemma of whether to leave the land for peace or stay where their ancestors have.
Calling Manto an activist or a social reformer will belittle him. He was a piercing, unflinching observer. Back when he worked at All India Radio, he boasted he could write a story on any subject in the world. Yet his very first published story, Tamasha, was about the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. Every story may not be political, but prose makes room.
Nandita Das does a brilliant job as she potrays Manto not as a writer but as a a man who collects fancy pens but chooses not to use them, a man who proclaims the power of his pencil, a man who claims the sound of a typewriter is too distracting.
The film opens with Manto struggling to get the fattest film industry cats in Bombay to give him what they rightly owe him.
Nawaz may not resemble the writer, but strikingly embodies his restless defiance and all-knowing air.
Manto is an enigma of a man as he scolds writer Ismat Chugtai for ending a sublime story with pedestrian lines, and actor Shyam Chadda for smoking a cheap brand. When asked if he will address students at a college, his concern is whether he can show up drunk. In one scene, he passes by a woman asking for money. He instinctively hands her something as he passes and she smiles. Sometimes a streetwalker needs a cigarette.
Apart from Manto, Rasika Dugal shines brightly as Manto’s wife. She admires him while feeling sorry for him, and in one scene she reads out a letter from Chugtai. Mrs Manto makes for a strong character in the film.
If there is one thing which lacks in the film, it is the flow.
However, it is a film which will make you think, hurt you and bring you back to your ideals. If I were to rate the movie, I would give it four stars out of five.
Also read: Nandita Das and Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s Manto promises to be a riveting watch