Manto’s 107th birth anniversary on Saturday

ISLAMABAD: Fans of the greatest short story-writer and author Saadat Hasan Manto will celebrate his 107th birth anniversary on May 11 remembering his life time services for Urdu language.

Born on May 11, 1912 in Ludhiana, India, Manto was an Indian and Pakistani writer, playwright and author who produced some collections of short stories, a novel, radio plays, essays and collections of personal sketches. He was known for his high esteemed best short stories which exposed the hard truths of society that no one dared to talk about. He is best known for his stories about the partition of India, which he opposed, immediately following independence in 1947.

He is acknowledged as one of the finest 20th century Urdu writers and two biographical films on Manto have been made so far.

During the last two decades many stage productions presented Manto’s character exposing harsh socio-economic realities of post partition era in their theater plays.

Theatre Wallay ,a non-commercial group of artists in their project ‘Theatre for Social Change’ have produced a comedy play “Aao Hansein” featuring comedies by popular writer, playwright and author, Saadat Hasan Manto to promote the use of creative expression as a tool for empowerment and critical dialogue.

According to the producers of the play, Manto is known for his writings about dark and unbearable truths of life. However, few people know that Manto wrote many comic plays for radio and Theatre Wallay has turned three of his short radio plays into a theater production and dramatized, originally written for the radio: “Ao Kahani Likhein”, “Ao Khoj lagaein” and “Ao Taash Khelein.”