Why Manto?” we ask Ashwath Bhatt, who is bringing his solo act, Ek Mulaquat Manto Se to Pune. The play will open the 17th edition of Maharashtra Cultural Centre’s Rangmahotsav, the annual national theatre festival, that starts from today.
“You just have to look around and you will know Saadat Hasan Manto is still relevant. I could relate to Manto from the first line of his that I read. I love his thought process and the in-your-face writing. There is no beating around the bush, there is no colouring of words. He wrote what he saw. That appealed to me because I saw violence and ugly human face very early in my life,” says Bhatt, who has worked with Danis Tanovic and Mira Nair.
Finding the dynamic
Manto was a Kashmiri and Bhatt too is one. Did that also help him connect with the writer? To which the Raazi fame actor responds, “Ethnicity is not a criterion for liking somebody. I love Faiz, (Mirza) Ghalib and Premchand. Manto didn’t talk about Kashmir as such in his writing. He talked about Partition.”
The actor, who has been performing the act for 17 years now, adds, “His writing transcends cultures and boundaries. I was performing in Jordan once and after the show someone in the audience came up and said, ‘This is our story’.”
Other shows, theatrical performances on Manto’s life are based on the short stories that he wrote. In Ek Mulaquat Manto Se, Bhatt focuses on his columns, the non-fiction. “Articles are not written to be performed. They are written to be read. So the challenge before me was how to get out the performative text out of the articles. At the end of the day, it has to be a theatrical piece when you are performing something. You have to create that dramatic element in it,” he says.
The texts used in the play are Manto, Main Afsana Kyun Kar Likhta Hoon, Khol Do, Kal Sawere Jo Meri Ankh Khuli and Deewaroon Pe Likhna. Begum Akhtar’s ghazals have been used at a few places to highlight the pathos of Manto’s life.
What the texts say
In the play, Saadat comments on Manto, his own self. His writings focus on what is happening in the lives of the common people.
“What I like about Manto are the small, small details which have a huge impact. He had written Deewaroon Pe Likhna in which he talks about what we know as graffiti art. He has written – Deewaroon pe likhna ye insanon ki fitrat mein dakhil hai. On the face of it, the line reads very simple. When you go deep into it, you say, ‘wow!’. My daughter is one and half year old and when she first got a pencil in her hand, she scrawled all over the wall of our house. There is so much of writing on our streets now, in the washrooms...Manto is connecting the dots,” says he.
After Partition, Manto goes to Pakistan. In Lahore, he goes on a morning walk and sees how people are surviving. And in Kal Sawere Jo Meri Ankh Khuli he writes how people were putting together four wheels of a cycle to make a reda to sell goods. We know it as a thela now and it’s a common sight in any corner of the country. But back then, it was an innovation, an attempt to survive. “In Manto’s writings you meet the common man. When you read history in non-fiction, you read about Nehru, Jinnah, Hindu-Muslim leadership, you don’t know what was happening to the lowest common denominator,” adds Bhatt.
Manto’s writing about women was progressive. He said about 72-73 years ago, Aurat ko khuli fiza mein ghumne do. Auratein kyun ghar mein kaid hai, itna sunehra baag hai, itna khubsoorat mausam hai...iska luft kyu nahi uthati. Today we are still discussing, debating that women need to step out, they shouldn’t be troubled on streets and so on.
Manto lives on...
Manto had to stand for obscenity trials in his lifetime. He was a misfit then and if he was around, he would have been misfit even now. Bhatt agrees and says, “You can’t just talk about Swacch Bharat on Iphone. Manto hote toh utthe aur Swacch Bharat pe kahani likhte – yeh gandagi jo dimag mein bhari padi hai, usse saaf karne ki zaroorat hai. The pathetic condition of women in brothels still exists. What has changed for them? Woh ek samaj ki gandgi hai jise koi dekhna nahi chahta. Even today we don’t want to see this ugly reality. The more hypocrisy continues, the more Manto will stay relevant. He had the guts to say it as he saw it. We as a country and subcontinent have a habit of pushing away things under the carpet. We put on blinkers, we don’t see street kids. That’s how we function. But there are a few people in the country, who don’t wear these blinkers. That’s why this country is surviving. Manto lives in these people. That’s how he survives.”
ST Reader Service
Ashwath Bhatt’s solo act – Ek Mulaquat Manto Se – will open Maharashtra Cultural Centre’s Rangmahotsav on December 18, 7.30 pm. The five day festival will be held at Jyotsna Bhole Sabhagruha, Tilak Road
