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Manto Mid Movie Review: Nawazuddin Siddiqui deftly brings Manto's words to life
In Manto, Nawazuddin Siddiqui pays a perfect tribute to the misunderstood writer Saadat Hasan Manto whose own story deserves to be told.
As Saadat Hasan Manto (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) bids farewell to Bombay, his homebase and shifts to Lahore, you see the downhill battle, reminiscent of the dwindling equations between India and Pakistan. They say an artist needs to feel the pain to make poetry and Manto felt pain for the minority and used his writing as a sword for them. Nandita Das brings to us the life of an iconic figure who deserves for his own story to be told. The opening credits of Manto shows a crack in the movie title signifying the Pakistani writer's time before partition and after partition.
Nawazzudin Siddiqui brings life to Manto's words effortlessly on screen and shows his multi-faceted personality. Nawaz pays a perfect tribute to the misunderstood gentleman. Manto's vigour and passion for writing freely and unabashedly as well as his empathy for women are tested throughout the first half when India was still fighting for Independence. When everyone else wrote about the fight for freedom, Manto used his words to talk about the life of prostitutes and the atrocities they faced. Manto proudly proclaims if the men are unafraid to go to the brothels then why are they ashamed of being written about.
Manto's life is filled with characters worth remembering most notably his wife Safia (Rasika Dugal), who is his biggest support system and strongest critic as well. Rasika Dugal is the perfect calm for Manto's stormy mind and is at par with him. Tahir Raj Bhasin plays Shyam, an actor and Manto's confidante. He is an important aspect towards the end of the first half and his progression from a pre-Independent to post-Independent India mindset is shown tragically. Rajshri Deshpande has a brief role as Ismat Chugtai and is worth a worthy mention.
The second half will show us the after-effects of an Independent India in Pakistan with Manto's struggles increasing for the freedom of speech. While the first half is brilliant we would like for the movie to divulge more into the psyche of why Manto was the way he was.
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