At last, we were treated with respect at the Cannes film festival as we emerged from the billowing drapes of cosmetic endorsements. Nandita Das’ film Manto, based on the tumultuous life of writer Saadat Hasan Manto, premiered to a packed theatre and rave reviews. And like the short stories by the writer, the biopic left the audience stunned. There is a reason why Manto, the writer, has been gaining a steady fan following. His women characters, sometimes the protagonists, at other times lovers, sex-workers and sundry home-makers, are human – neither the devil nor the devi but somewhere in between. It is also in the light of his vociferous opposition to religious fanaticism that Manto needs to be read and understood in current times.
In a speech at Jogeshwari in his beloved Mumbai, Manto had said, ‘These (religious fanaticism) are disgusting things, motives. Debate on my story and kill me, I will be fine with it. I will think I got a good death. I will be happy. But don’t do these things because I am an artiste and I don’t like such dirty scars.” Not surprisingly, during his life his writings were feared and deemed controversial, but once he died he was celebrated for holding up a mirror to the society. It is time that we realised that 63 years after his death, Manto is again holding up the same mirror to make us aware of the bare truths that confront us. But are we willing to see and understand them is the question.