India will celebrate its 72nd Independence Day on August 15, 2018, and in a bid to celebrate the freedom of speech renowned actress-turned-filmmaker Nandita Das will gift the nation Manto. To commemorate this special day, Das will release the official trailer of the much-awaited movie of 2018, starring highly acclaimed actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui.
Based on the life and struggle of fearless and straightforward iconoclastic writer Saadat Hasan Manto, the movie follows the most tumultuous journey of Manto‘s early life. The movie also shows how he was discarded by the society for being ahead of time. The movie showcases his believe in the freedom of speech and what society gave him back in return.
Known for her calmness and choice of words, Nandita Das said in an interview to IANS about the movie and the inspirational writer. She said, “Manto stood for freedom of expression, both through his writings and the struggles he went through in his personal life. He challenged all forms of orthodoxy and despite six cases slapped on him, he believed in the power of the written word. That kind of conviction and the courage to follow it through is inspirational.”
Das is one of the feminists who is known for being outspoken about freedom of speech. She said, “I am an optimist. So, I believe that writers and artists will continue to express their truth through their work. We, as readers and audiences, need to support such people for our own sake, for a robust and mature society.”
Speaking about the release of the movie trailer, she said, “Viacom18, one of our main producers and the ones leading the marketing and distribution for the film along with HP studios, decided to launch the trailer digitally. This was completely their idea.”
Co-produced by Filmstoc, HP Studios and Viacom18 Motion Pictures, the movie will be starring Nawazuddin as Manto. Along with him, Rasika Dugal will play as Manto‘s wife and others as Tahir Raj Bhasin, Rishi Kapoor and Divya Dutta will play other pivotal roles.
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