Manto - A film review and discussion

Saadat Hassan Manto - A Rebel with a Cause

Written based on a commentary by Professor Ramesh Dutt

We live in a society of victimization, where people are much more comfortable being victimized than actually standing up for themselves. - Marilyn Manson

The above saying could not be more true in the kind of world we live in today.  I am honored, humbled and privileged to write this piece based on and inspired by Professor Ramesh Dutt’s (lovingly called Dutt Saab) rendition after he saw the movie, “Manto.”  Dutt Saab is an ardent cinephile or filmophile and a true gypsy in love with travelling and an incomparable zest life which he considers as his intoxication.  Dutt Saab is a wholesome, captivating, interesting, awe-inspiring, and intriguing individual, an intellectual whose knowledge and capability to deliver a lecture extempore on topics related to film, music, performing & fine, arts, songs, poetry, literature, history, and many more areas is par excellence.  He delivers each rendition with such panache that one remains spellbound and awed at the end of it as to how one human being can flawlessly deliver an extempore rendition with no reference point or write-up purely out of memory to a point of accuracy that seems impossible to achieve.  He possesses a knowledge and memory that is so vivid, vast, and photographic that his rendition of an event or topic transports the person to the time that the event occurred or takes one to the place that he talks about.  His joie-de-vivre of life and all the good things associated with it is so contagious and intoxicating in itself coaxing and inspiring the listener to take one of the most scintillating and mesmerizing journeys with him.  Having been lucky and blessed enough to be at the receiving end of many of his bayaars (which literally means the breeze) as we call them for his smooth rendition like the wafting of the breeze across the ocean in the mornings.  He generally starts of this ritual at around 4 a.m. to 4:30 am in the morning for those of those who are early birds and I must admit that it has always been enriching, knowledgeable, filled with intellect, and awe-inspiring.  One of such days was today, when he sent this bayaar to me on Manto, which was so captivating and magnetic in its rendition goading me to write about it in my blog.

Bol ke lab azaad hai tere, Bol zabaan ab tak teri hai,

Speak for your lips are still free, Speak for your speech is still yours,

Tera sutvaan jism hai tera, bol ki jaan ab tak teri hai….

Your strong body is your own, Your life is still yours

Jism-o-jaan ki maut se pehle, Bol ke sach zinda hai ab tak...

Before the death of the body and soul, speak that the truth is alive, even now!!!

Dutt Saab as we all lovingly call him starts off his bayaar with the above poetry by Faiz Ahmed Faiz, a poetry that might have been heard by all of us many a times, but the fact that it has been narrated at the end of the film is what is a befitting tribute to this movie, Manto, and the protagonist as per Dutt Saab.  I have only mentioned a few couplets and translated for posterity’s sake in order to enable people who do not speak Urdu to understand the depth of what has been written.  Nandita Das, the producer worked hard for 6 years to make this film as Saadat Hassan Manto was one of the most controversial writers of the pre-independence era.  This movie was a dream of Nandita Das. I write as I listen to Dutt Saab in the background and he starts off thus....

The movie starts off along the throes of the time where India was at the verge of getting independence from the British when people were very hopeful and excited about attaining freedom.  The film also depicts the Progressive Writers Association of which there were very progressive, forthright, controversial writers such as Ismath Chugtai, Rajender Singh, Krishan Chandra, and many others. Along the same time was Saadat Hassan Manto, an extremely controversial writer who wrote about and protested about every injustice and all atrocities that were existent in those times around him.  He was one of the most forthright writers who called a spade a spade or rather spoke exactly what came to his mind fearlessly.  He was never a person to sugarcoat or present anything in a diplomatic way.  He was perturbed with all the happenings and had questions for which he had no answers and always hit a dead end.  His dilemma was why things or matters cannot be presented exactly as it is and why one felt compelled to have to present it in the most politically correct way possible!!  This forms the main crux of the movie until the end.  He was a very honest and good human being, but unfortunately for the world, it can never comprehend human beings who are like that for they do not conform to their norms or beliefs.  The society of then and to a great extent the society of today has prescribed a set of norms and beliefs that they expect one to follow along and anyone who does not do so is dismissed as a rebel, an out-caste, or an anti-social individual.

Manto sees in his life that we gained independence but at a cost; the two major religions of the country came to loggerheads and the Britishers found great solace in ensuring that the rift widened to a point of no return.  Nandita Das was quite enamored by this writer when she read a few stories of his as a young girl and the makings of a movie had begun in her mind.  She seemed to find the answers of all the questions in his stories.

Ye daur jisme tha dil ka na koi mukaam,

Paththar se karraha tha jo sheeshe ka ehteraam,

Is daur mein ba-jurrat-e-zinda na dil ke baat,

Kehta raha tha koi toh Manto tha uska naam.

What an amazing way to describe this talented and prolific author who today has been respected in the literary world, years after his death.  Nandita, a talented director and sensitive artiste and human being was intrigued by his controversial persona.  She chose Irfan Khan in the beginning for the rule due to his eccentricity which was exactly the protagonist, Manto.  "Thanda Ghost," written by Manto is a very jarring, painful, and soul-stirring stories written by him which dragged him into trouble waters with the judiciary both in India and in Pakistan where he immigrated a while after India’s independence fearing for his safety.  "Thanda Ghost" is a story that I believe should be read by every one of us.  It blatantly and honestly in the most unforgiving manner of writing brings to fore the cruelty, inhuman behavior, and insensitivity of a human being who forgets or loses all semblance of culture, discipline, and decorum in life.  This was the kind of truthful and painfully honest writer was he, Saadat Hassan Manto.  He wrote about the existing evils, the atrocities, and disgusting and dirty truth of many lives and happenings that exist in this world towards which people would prefer to turn a blind eye or feign ignorance for those are things that disturb their oh-so perfect semblance of a decent, disciplined, and stable life.   They prefer to turn the other way and pretend that those things do not exist for society is filled with hypocrisies and double-standards and would love to present a decent picture or “goody-two-shoes” persona of themselves to the rest of the world.  Manto mentions, a dialogue used in the movie too, that his stories are written for those women who stay awake through the night and has nightmares in the day, for those women who the world loves to label as prostitutes or tawaifs, those whose pain and suffering is never understood or comprehended by the unforgiving & hypocritical society.

The 1957 movie, "Pyasa" where Gurudutt played the main role also was a controversial movie of its time…Now, what was it that Manto wanted?  In the movie when he is sitting amongst all the writers who were part of the Progressive Writers Union, he says blatantly, "If the world is unable to tolerate the things that I say and write through my stories it means that the society in itself incapable of tolerance."  He never listens to any of the friends who advise him that the road that he is taking will only lead to his destruction and nowhere else.  But, this path of destruction was conducive and acceptable to Manto.  The most special part of this movie is the 1940’s picturization of the cine industry using the most famous actors and the depiction of Shyaam who sang, "Tu mera chaand mai teri chaandni," an actor who died very young.  The choice of actors for the roles of the actors of that era such as Shyaam, Ashok Kumar and others has been impeccable.  The scenario when independence is declared is picturized in a way where Manto with his pregnant wife is looking out of the window viewing fireworks and tells his unborn child that he is going to be born into an independent country little knowing that independence comes at a very huge cost to him and the countrymen resulting in menacing riots, killings, and bloodshed.  A beautiful quote from the movie states, “When we were slaves we dreamt of freedom, now that we are free what do we dream of?” which shows the apathy of people of that era who had to face the happiness of freedom and the bitterness of partition at the same time, two conflicting emotions which cannot ever be perceived by us living in today’s world.

The movie brilliantly deals with friends turning foes, separation, conflicting emotions, bitterness, destruction of humanity and the protagonist’s challenges and emotions of that separation.  A scene between Shyaam and Manto beautifully depicts how just one word of hate or rudeness from a loved one even that said in anger can hurt us to such a great extent piercing the heart never to heal again.  Great portrayal of Jaddan, mother of Nargis, portrayed by Ila Arun.  The movie has been made in a soft and beautiful way where it moves smoothly revealing at every step the challenges that Manto faced but never gives up being truthful and honest.  The cinematic scenario of that era has been portrayed brilliantly by Nandita Das.  The movie has depth to a great extent and also portrays that even the move to Pakistan from India fearing for his and family’s safety does not prove to be fruitful as he struggles all the more.  The sarcasm portrayed in the dialogue between Manto and his wife unravels in such a beautiful way and the hurt that it portrays can be understood only by the sensitive and the sensible.  The movie, Manto, was part of the Cannes Film Festival receiving many laurels and appreciation from the international film fraternity.

It is indeed a great mystery how people like these come about.  These rebellious, controversial human beings who have brought about a change or forced upon a revolution always seem to be people who go through hell just for being blatantly honest and forthright about their thoughts on the society and its dealings.  These stories makes us think back in history where the intolerance of a government and the rulers come to fore especially when one person tends to break the norms that they have drawn or questions them on their hypocritical views or their ignorance of atrocities.  History has always proven the intolerance which is proven by a story dating back to almost 2000 years during Chanakya’s times bring to fore the same intolerance and what he had to face for standing his ground on his views.  The rulers seem to fall prey to bootlickers and crony capitalists forgetting that they come to rule due to the people and the subjects and not the other way around.  One has to be strong in character and conviction in what he believes, and Manto was a writer who was exactly such a character.

Dutt Saab had the opportunity to be part of a meeting of a movement in February 13, 2016 to protect Urdu as a language called Rekhta which was started in Sanjeev Saraf in Delhi a few years ago. In this meeting, he had the opportunity to meet Gulzar Saab, Javed Akhtar, Shabana Azmi, and then he met Nandita Das, a beautiful human being who loved representing the nation.  She came across as a wise, educated and well-informed woman who spoke about Manto for 1 hour 17 minutes and participated in a discussion with respected to this author and the movie, which in itself was a challenging movie to make as it was a very controversial topic.  It was challenging as producers generally do not like to take up topics that speak about the writing on the wall or the elephant in the room as it means taking a huge risk and we are a country who would like to sweep the dust under the carpet and forget about it or feign ignorance.  When Dutt Saab heard about it, he figured the passion behind Nandita and knew it would be a great movie and had decided to see it but had not seen it yet.  Then, one of the great Interventional Cardiologist of our country, Dr. Vivek Jawali, a member in our group mentioned this movie like he always mentioned special and exceptional movies, said he that he liked it and this inspired Dutt Saab to go and see it yesterday.

The most surprising and astonishing fact of the entire premise of my blog today is not my writing this but the fact that Dutt Saab recording this at 2 a.m. in the morning today and sent it across.  Human beings who have a lot on their mind, persons who try to question the existence of atrocities and non-existence of justice, persons who have hope to make a change or create a revolution often lose sleep thinking and brooding over all this.  They tend to look at the world with a Utopian vision hoping heart of hearts to see a better tomorrow and genuinely believe that it is possible, but unfortunately the world around us is not built on fairness alone and this dream never comes true.  This causes these conscientious people to become tormented souls and that is what becomes of Manto who in the end is found to be in a mental asylum.  The tormenting souls of the time of partition would stir any of our souls if we are sensitive enough to think deeply and conscientiously about all this.  Manto was only a storyteller not a pornographer as he mentions at one point.  He believed that if we have a space to talk about the poor and downtrodden, it must also include the ones not spoken off, the unconventional ones such as the prostitutes.  As he says, “A writer picks up his pen when his sensibility is hurt!”  How true it is because the writers see the truth which the others do not.  Literature is but the mirror of a writer’s soul which mirrors the happenings and stories around it.  Manto was considered to be a controversial writer who wrote vulgarity but he in fact only depicted the reality of what happens around him, but he also portrayed the conscience of a human being in a positive way, however blunt he might have been in doing so.  Unfortunately, a writer who was a visionary who was insulted and outcaste in his living days losing his life at the young age of 42 was posthumously honored.  But, was this struggle he went through and all the insults he had to put up with, was it all worth the honor he got not during his living days but after his death?  This is a question that torments Dutt Saab, myself, and all sensible and conscientious citizens of our country who truly believe in preserving our rich culture which includes not just the good but also the bad, the evil, the unspeakable, and unaccountable events around us.  Every writer gives words to their tormenting thoughts, says what they have to say, record their narrations for the universe to store and pass on to future generations.

The presence of some great individuals of the cine field such as Paresh Rawal, Javed Akhtar, Rishi Kapoor and others makes it a must watch.  The jarring question that will trouble one at the end of this movie is, “Would the one who speaks the truth always be meted with such harsh punishment century after century?  Is this what our world is reduced to today?”  Drinking is no doubt a vice, and Manto was addicted to his drink just like Ghalib was, but he never troubled anyone.  He loved his wife and his kids unconditionally and was a good husband and a great father.  He was humanity incarnate.  Money is needed for transaction and commodities, but it cannot be the be all and end all.  One needs to make money to be able to bring about social change one would say, but the pen is also mightier than the sword and can create the same change.  The great poets and writers who are honest expect the same from the world, but unfortunately the truth of the matter is that there is no poetic justice in this world.  Dutt Saab beautifully explains this with an example where he says just because he is a vegetarian, if he chances about a starving tiger in the jungle, it would not excuse him because he is a herbivore; it will devour him.  Such is the truth of the whole world.  The honest and clean-hearted are the ones who shall always suffer, the cunning ones know how to save themselves.  The fact that we speak about someone after 63 years goes to show that the person who has depth and substance is the one whose memory will last as Dutt Saab learnt years ago and always advises all of us.  Dutt Saab’s quote his original one is, “Jo gehra hai woh tehra hai” meaning the one that is deep shall last, in other words still waters run deep.

Hope is what keeps us alive.  Today is a fact, tomorrow is only an opinion.  Human beings tend to forget one basic fact that they might not wake up the next day, but eagerly plan their lives years at a stretch conveniently ignoring what they have in their hands as a given, the present, the today, the now.  One needs to remember to live in the present hoping of course for a better tomorrow and never give up on hope for that is what incites, excites, and inspires us to keep moving on in spite of any challenges or hurdles in life.  My favorite saying as always is, “Life is a mystery to be lived, not a problem to be solved!”  I always make it a point to tell my children and youngsters I meet the most important thing to remember is that we are born by chance, but the choices we make in our lives define who we are.  One needs to choose to be positive.  Politics will always exist, crony capitalism will be around, but we need to fight for honesty, truth, and justice.  Manto was a writer who did just that.  He lived life on his terms, uncompromising in his honest thoughts and writings which finally gained him the position of a revolutionary writer in the end although posthumously.  The movie, “Manto” incited all these thoughts in my mind and Dutt Saab’s mind after watching the movie and now has inspired me to read more of his stories as I have enjoyed being a rebel all my life living life on my terms.  We have one life to live and we have every right to live it the way we want.  Freedom of writing and expression is indeed a birthright, having said that we as writers must also be conscientious and responsible enough to be as factual and honest as possible in all our writings.  A beautiful film that stirs you up, torments you, and awakes your soul to understand the need of the hour and act upon it and not turn a blind eye to the voices of the people and their pains.

Congratulations to Nandita Das and team for a brilliantly made movie.  Best wishes for many more to come.

MOVIE: Manto

PRODUCERS: Nandita Das, Ajit Andhare, Vikrant Batra, Namrata Goyal

Director: Nandita Das

ACTORS: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Rasika Dugal, Tahir Raj Bhasin, Shashank Arora, Divya Dutta, Ila Arun, Rajshri Deshpande, Rishi Kapoor, Paresh Rawal, Javed Akhtar

Blog by: Kay S based on the narration of Professor Ramesh Dutt on May 18, 2019.