Not only in the Indian subcontinent but in the literary world as a fiction writer, stories of Sadat Hassan Manto are seen as a slap on the face of double faced society. Perhaps, other than Manto, nobody has written more powerful fiction over this social hypocrisy. In his stories he portrayed life with full honesty.
Jhoom Uthta hai Maikhana jab Haathon mein Jaam Leta Hoon
Sadat Hassan Manto died on 18 January 1955 but because of his stories he is still popular. Manto’s stories are still as relevant as they used to be at that time. Not only this, in today’s era, they seem more relevant.
Just last year, renowned actor Nandita Das directed a movie “Manto” based on her life. In which Nawazuddin Siddiqui was seen in the role of Manto. Earlier, Ketan Mehta made a film on the famous story of Manto, ‘Toba Tek Singh’ and in it Pankaj Kapoor was in a lead role.
Manto was born on May 11, 1912 in the family of a barrister in Ludhiana. Manto was of Kashmiri origin and he was very proud of this. Manto first started reading Russian Literature. He has written 22 stories collection, a novel, five series of radio plays, sketches, and essays. He worked in Bollywood and Ashok Kumar was his friend. Manto was accused of obscenity 6 times, but he was never punished. These lawsuits were on his stories Afsano Bu, Kali Salwar, Upar Neeche, Darmiyan, Thanda Gost, Dhuan.
When Bhimsen Joshi Left The Stage for A Booze
Saadat Hasan Manto used to drink a lot. In the film Nandita Das made, his drinking habit was given lot of prominence. In Pakistan also his drinking habit was prominently shown in series and films. But did Manto only kept on drinking liquor? That’s not the case, the fact is that the writer is imaginative and creator, his sensibilities can rarely be understood by others. Because of this, he needs liquor. Manto also had to face many struggles because of liquor addiction. Editors also took advantage of Manto’s liquor Addiction.The editors sometimes used to lure Manto with a bottle of liquor for their story. Because of his nature, people used to call Manto Tommy and he failed twice in Urdu metric examination. Manto wrote 786 before writing any story.
Rahi Masoom Raza and ‘Wine of God’
Manto wrote the story of Sohrab Modi’s “Mirza Ghalib”. “Mirza Ghalib” was awarded the National Film Award in 1954. Not only this, Manto used to write the whole story in one sitting.
On behalf of the entire team of Cheers.com, a heartily tribute to this great writer of Urdu on his 93rd birthday.