'Manto': Nawazuddin Siddiqui delivers a class act in a film that is for a selective audience

Its been 63 years since Saadat Hasan Manto breathed his last, but the man, his ideologies and his work remain relevant even in this day and age. His work was often deemed as 'obscene' but in reality, Manto wrote about the society at large and his work was merely a mirror to the society and its mindset. Set in an era when India and Pakistan were newly formed, filmmaker Nandita Das' biopic 'Manto' is strikingly modern in its approach.

The film opens in 1940s Bombay where Manto is a prolific screenwriter who hobnobs with some of the most prominent names of the film industry. India is on the brink of getting its independence and as certain people are packing bags to leave for their new country, Manto is quite sure that he will never leave Bombay, the city he loves so dearly.

Initially, nothing seems to deter his decision of staying back in India. But as the situation becomes grave and riots spill out on the streets, his belief starts dwindling. When his best friend Shyam, an actor in the early 1940s, mutters in anger that he would want to kill all Muslims and if needed even Manto, his worst fear comes true and Manto packs his bag and leaves for Lahore. While he is forced to adapt to his new home, the new country, his heart pines for Bombay where his parents and first born remain buried. He takes to alcohol and is charged for obscenity for his story 'Thanda Ghost'- trial for which continues for years. Addiction, lack of work, and a long legal battle drain him and his family financially.

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Das present two very strikingly different sides of the writer. The first half is of a self-assured man, who is rather brash, slightly overconfident about his future and a very idealistic who knows his stories make people uncomfortable. In the second half, as he is forced to move to Pakistan post-partition, he is far more troubled, depressed as his works get rejected and rebuffed and alcohol addiction takes him away from his wife and daughters. Manto's pen may be sharp, may depict the horrifying effects of partition but as a family man, he fails to keep things together.

The film's narrative is non-linear and the filmmaker blurs the lines between realism and fiction. A lot of Manto's popular stories like 'Khol Do', 'Dus Rupay Ka Note’, ‘Sau Watt Ka Bulb’, ‘Khol Do’, ‘Thanda Gosht’ and ‘Toba Tek Singh’ are infused into the story. As Manto roams around the city (First Bombay and then Lahore) for inspiration, these stories are played out in front of him giving the audience a sense of how Manto picked up the stories that a lot found blasphemous.

One can sense how inspired and influenced Das has been by Manto's life and works but she doesn't really portray him as a hero. Instead tries to humanize him, and show his flaws.

She also manages to get some formidable actors to play prominent cameos in the film. Rishi Kapoor, Paresh Rawal, Tilotamma Shome, Purab Kohli, Ila Arun, Ranvir Shorey, Divya Dutta, Gurdas Mann, Vinod Nagpal, Chandan Roy Sanyal, Neeraj Kabi, and even Javed Akhtar- all make small appearances in the film either as Manto's characters or as people he meets in his life. Tahir Raj Bhasin plays Shyam, Manto's dear friend who becomes a huge film actor post-independence and always remains guilty of sending Manto off to Pakistan. While it is difficult to match up to Nawazuddin's powerful performance, but Bhasin exudes a certain likeability for his character making one feel sympathetic towards Shyam.

Amid so many prominent cameos, it is Nawazuddin Siddiqui who stands out the most. He is Manto, a self-assured man who degrades into a hallucinating alcoholic and whose pride doesn't let him take up odd jobs. Nawazuddin, who has for years played a certain kind of character- belonging to the lower rung of the society- transforms himself into the polished, charismatic, witty writer with much elan. He makes Manto even more fascinating, more attractive, fierce. It's his performance that holds your attention the most.

The other star who clearly shines in her limited screen time is Rasika Dugal who plays Safia, Manto's wife and the only person who remains a support for the writer in his dark days. She emotes through her eyes and provides the calmness to Manto's feisty temperament.

The film though is for a select audience- an audience that understands the social milieu of the 1940s and can draw parallels to the present day situation. Press censorship, religious intolerance, curb in creative liberty are things that existed even back then and exist even now. But it is for the viewer to make that connection. 'Manto' also uses Urdu in abundance- a language that may sound beautiful but for a bigger part of the audience a little difficult to comprehend. I found myself looking at the subtitles ever so often instead of listening to what the characters were saying.

At 116 minutes, 'Manto' is mostly crisp storytelling. For those who have followed the man and his work, it may not offer anything new. Wish, they flexed out his relationship with his family a bit more- a side that is not known so much.'Manto' also doesn't spell out a lot of things- so it takes time to absorb and understand the era, the language of the film. It needs time and patience to understand and relate to much like the writer himself whose work may have been shunned back then but with time has become poignant and relatable.