Manto in Oslo

As Shakespeare reached the valley of Kashmir with the successful Bollywood adaptation of his landmark play Hamlet by Basharat Peer in Haider, a screenwriter and film director in Oslo has started filming an adaptation of ‘Thanda Gosht’, a striking short story by Saadat Hassan Manto, one of the most outstanding Urdu short story writers.

Manto’s Thanda Gosht is set against the backdrop of partition riots while in the film Sard, an Urdu adaptation of the story, a hypothetical lawless society is the backdrop but the basic theme and two main characters are the same.

Toni Usman, a Norwegian of Pakistani origin, is the director and writer of the adapted script. A student of film studies, he tells the story of a couple living in an imagined lawless society that is on the brink of collapse. The main character Sannan and his beloved Romana have a dream of leaving the dystopia in which they live. However, a disturbing incident threatens their relationship. Sannan discovers the darkest corner of his mind resulting in a terribly gruesome act. On his deathbed he realises he has reached the bottom of immorality.

"The film is an investigation in human psychology and behaviour in a dystopia and apocalyptic society. The main idea is to dwell into the mental state of the characters in an undesirable society. How is the condition of man in a decaying society and how is love applied? The film will be both entertaining and thought-provoking, and will lead the audience into a different and eerie universe. The entire story takes place during one night only," says Usman.

"I have tried to take the liberties a filmmaker can legitimately take while staying true to the text as well as Manto’s spirit in its totality," he says.

Sard aims to depict the collective madness that accompanied the partition. Unfortunately, partition on various grounds continues to afflict human societies, says Usman. "In the 1990s, Yugoslavia suffered it with bloody consequences. In recent times, Ethiopia and Sudan have undergone partitions and Ukraine is being partitioned as we speak. Beyond partitions, collective madness is evident in Syria."

He makes a point that Manto remains relevant as he is a symbol of free speech as well as a victim of censorship even in his death. "For instance, the provocative epitaph he himself authored for his grave was replaced by a less contemptuous one by his own family. His family justifiably feared that the provocative epitaph might infuriate fanatics. Likewise, the Charlie Hebdo episode on the one hand, and flogging of a Saudi blogger, on the other, has triggered a global debate on the contours of free expression. Manto was implicated in court cases both by the colonial authorities as well as post-colonial state. The government wanted Manto to lie but he could not write and speak anything other than the truth," says Toni Usman.

Likewise, his contempt for absurdity, irrationality, oppression and cowardice remains valid not merely in Pakistan but, in fact, everywhere, he says.

Getting his inspiration from Manto, Usman has in the past worked as a theatre actor and producer. He staged Manto’s ‘Toba Tek Singh’ and ‘Letters to Uncle Sam’. Theatre is restrictive in many ways when it comes to adaptations. His first school production ‘There’s no iPad in heaven’ was inspired by Manto’s radio play ‘Khudkushi’. Hence, it is not a coincidence that he has adapted his ‘Thanda Gosht’ as his graduation film.

"My fascination with Manto has many reasons. Manto explores themes that are both familiar and complex. Often what is familiar is hard to come to grips with. Manto does it artistically. I find his honesty and bravery and his trust in human nature indeed inspiring as well as uniquely filmatic," he says. Usman believes that Manto’s wit and capacity for satire is another reason to get inspired. He takes Manto as a "master satirist", who could laugh at himself. "And here lies the true progressive in Manto: unless we are able to laugh at ourselves, we would not change."

"Often when a novel or a short story is adopted by a filmmaker, certain critics as well as general readers expect an exact delineation of written text. In my view, this is a flawed expectation. Hence, occasional criticism for not abiding by the text in such cases is misplaced. Recently, the Indian film Haider was criticised on similar grounds. In my view, the classicism of Hamlet and the beauty of Haider lie in the fact that Hamlet blends with Kashmir while Haider successfully embraces Hamlet. Hamlet’s individual conflict becomes Kashmir’s collective," he says.

Fortunately, in Norway and even Scandinavia, Hollywoodisation of filmatic art is not the only mainstream, popular form. Cinema is taken seriously and themes that explore such complex issues are common as have been dealt with in the case of Sard.

It will be a 25 minute long film. The language of the film is going to be Urdu with Norwegian subtitles and it will be shown in June in Oslo.