'Manto' Review: Nawazuddin Siddiqui's biopic-drama is for a select few

Film: Manto (Biopic-drama)
Cast: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Tahir Raj Bhasin, Rasika Dugal (Cameos: Rishi Kapoor, Paresh Rawal, Javed Akhtar)
Direction: Nandita Das
Duration: 1 hour, 57 minutes 
Language: Hindi (U/A) 
Critic's Rating: 3/5 

Story:

The movie traces the most tumultuous four years in the life of progressive and provocative Urdu short story writer, Saadat Hasan Manto, who loved Bombay, but later made Lahore his home. He is the toast of Bollywood and shares a strong bond with ’40s Hindi cinema actor Shyam.

However, in 1948, post Partition, when the Hindu-Muslim sentiment boils over, Manto places a stone on his heart and moves to Pakistan. In Lahore, he has no friends and hardly finds suitable takers for his work. Alcoholism grips him and he dies at 42 — disillusioned.

Running parallel to his family life, the biopic also tells the tale of two emerging nations (India and Pakistan), two faltering cities (Bombay and Lahore) and keeps connecting it to the one man, Manto, whose heart beats relentlessly for India till the very end. 

Review:

Nandita Das gets the casting of her Manto right. The ’40s writer comes alive in the multi-talented and almost effortless Nawazuddin Siddiqui. Understated in appearance but sharp in his portrayal, the actor does a convincing job of recreating one of the most celebrated names of that era. The sepia-tinted frames keep the mood correct, engaging the viewer in the pre-Independence era and allowing Manto and others with him to bare their scars that disturb you no end.

The film also offers us a vintage view of the Bombay Talkies era in Hindi cinema, where you can see a young Nargis and Ashok Kumar played by less-famous names. However, most of this just serves as a backdrop. The hero of the piece, Manto, takes centre stage throughout. Here is a writer who often states through this film that his stories mirror reality. And, he encourages people to live voyeuristically through them. 

The screenplay ebbs and flows in a rather disappointing way. On the one hand, the film successfully captures the writer’s turmoil in his failure to adjust to routine and his struggle to compromise with the ordinary. However, while it evokes strong emotions for the genius’ idiosyncrasies, it fails to keep the audience in its grip throughout. There’s a mundane element that keeps popping up from time to time.

The strong friendship between Saadat and Shyam, the trauma of partition and the compromises of a family to keep pace with a legend in their midst does strike a chord. On occasions, you even find yourself wiping away a tear. Cinematographer Kartik Vijay brings alive the pre-Independence Bombay beautifully and production designer Rita Ghosh allows the sepia-tinted frames to haunt. 

As one said at the start, Nandita got her casting correct, but her characterisation of the writer needed more in-depth study. Just to show that he had a fetish for pens that he never actually used is just one aspect and certainly not enough. Cameos by Rishi Kapoor as a seedy Bollywood producer, Javed Akhtar as an important Pakistani literary head and Paresh Rawal as a pimp definitely add value. Also, Tahir Raj Bhasin as Shyam displays terrific spark. 

Verdict: If biopics or Manto float your boat, check this one out.