Prior to the release of Manto, in which Nawazuddin Siddiqui essays the titular role, the actor speaks about the life of the controversial writer and portraying him onscreen.
Nandita’s Das upcoming biopic, Manto, which chronicles the life of Pakistani writer Saadat Hassan Manto, is scheduled to release worldwide on September 21 but it is still unclear if the film will see the light of the day in Pakistan. However, the director recently took to Twitter and shared that they are trying to release the film in Pakistan soon. We hope that happens!
Starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui in and as Saadat Hassan Manto, the film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year and received a lot of appreciation from critics.
Siddiqui recently spoke about the controversial writer from the sub-continent and how he feels about essaying him on the big screen.
Responding to whether he was familiar with Saadat Hassan Manto before the role was offered to him, he confessed, “I had no idea till then that Manto had been an alcoholic and was so prolific he could write a story while being jostled in a crowd. I also didn’t know about the obscenity cases against him or that he was quite the family man. I’d read his stories though.”
“When I bumped into Nandita (Das) at the Cannes Film Festival in 2013 and she told me she was planning a biopic on Manto, I agreed to be a part of it,” he continued. “Four years later, after completing her research, she returned to introduce me to the man, his world and his thoughts.”
Manto was brutally honest and this often landed the writer in trouble. Speaking about being outspoken himself at some point, the actor shared that he used to say what he felt like but then he began to realize that it is creating issues so he started manipulating the truth.
“I’d say what was permissible, what people wanted to hear, till I entered the Manto zone,” he admitted. “Then, for about two-three months, I was back to speaking the truth without embellishments. But society can be very judgmental, people started saying, ‘he’s done all this, he must be a really dirty guy’… It didn’t matter that I had admitted to certain shortcomings myself. I wasn’t appreciated for my honesty. Instead, my confessions went against me. So, I figured there was no point in spoiling my public image when I was getting work.”
Among other things, Siddiqui also shared that working with women directors including Nandita Das and Tannishtha Chatterjee (Roam Rome Mein) helped change his perspective on the world and improved him not just as an actor but as a human being too.
“Well, creatively, both men and women are equal, but the male gaze is very different from the female gaze,” he explained. “And I’ve come to realize that it’s because of men that there is a lot of chaos and violence in the world. It’s time we put power in the hands of women; the world will become a better place.”
