Trying to pursue importers to bring Manto to Pakistan, Fawad tells Indian filmmaker

ISLAMABAD: Information and Broadcasting Minister Fawad Chaudhry said that he was trying to pursue importers to bring Indian film Mandto to Pakistan.

The information minister was responding to a tweet by veteran Indian filmmaker who voiced her disappointment at Manto not getting a release in Pakistan.

Nandita wrote: “Disappointed that Manto will not be seen in theatres in Pakistan. I was keen as he belongs to both countries equally,” read her post.

The Saadat Hasan Manto biopic is neither ‘anti-Partition’ nor does it contain ‘explicit scenes’, the director argues.

Manto, that chronicles the life and times of sub-continent’s most controversial writer to date Saadat Hasan Manto, stars Nawazuddin Siddiqui in the titular role as well as other actors like Rasika Dugal as the late poet’s wife along with Tahir Raj Bhasin, Rishi Kapoor and Divya Dutta in key roles.

The movie was also screened at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival this year.

Learning about the news, the Nandita posted an article that cites reason as to why the film will not be showcased at this side of the border.

“I just got the news that ‘Manto’ was not passed by their Censor Board. The reasons cited are that ‘the film has anti-Partition narrative theme and explicit scenes, which is against the norms of Pakistani society’,” she wrote.

She added, “In the last six years that I have been working on Manto, not only his family but many others in Pakistan have been waiting anxiously to see it on the big screen. So while this explanation is in defence of freedom, it is also for them.”

However, Fawad Chaudhry responded to Nandita Das on Twitter.

“I am trying to pursue importers to bring this movie to Pak, I hope someone will definitely take risk of showing A less commercial film to the viewers,” Chaudhry wrote.