Vol. 7, Issue 8, Part F (2021)

A biopic is a cinematic attempt to present the life of a person on celluloid. Manto (2018) by Nandita Das is an innovative attempt to capture the essence of Saadat Hasan Manto. The movie is a brilliant overlapping of life story of Manto and his stories adapted for the screen. Nadita tries to come up with something innovative by intertwining the biography of Manto and his radical stories in such a way that it is not known from where the story is started and where the film is finished. The life of Manto serves as a critical example of tortured artistic soul which tries to write about the downtrodden and marginal sections of the humanity with bare honesty. This perspective makes his stories audacious and too bold for a crumbling society to accept. While the movie brushes up his life sketch, it also adapt some of his iconic stories side by side to bring both the man and the writer side by side. The result is a maverick masterpiece that stands out for its innovation, daring and sensitivity.