Manto dramas will be let loose this week

Uma Jhunjhunwala,a director of Little Thespian,said,“Last year we organised Jashn-e Tagore to commemorate the bard from Bengal. This year it’s Manto. We have already staged a few plays on his short stories,which are still relevant in today’s society. And we feel proud to celebrate an author who celebrated humanity.”

Jhunjhunwala,who has been actively involved with Hindi and Urdu theatre since 1989,felt this initiative will give more people a peek into the world of the master story-teller,who was born May 11,1912 and passed away on January 18,1955.

“Manto had written his own epitaph,which read,‘There Saadat Hasan Manto lies buried,and buried in his breast are all the secrets of the art of story-writing. Even now,lying buried under tons of earth he wonders whether he or God is the greater writer of the short story’. He was a master of his trade and his works,which combined psychoanalysis with human behaviour,are universal,” she said.

The festival will include a dramatic reading,Manto Ke Afsane,by theatre personality Gautam Halder. A Hyderabad-based group,Sutradhar,is also set to perform Siyaah Haashiye,a collection of 32 cameos written by Manto,often referred as “the original enfant terrible of Urdu literature”.

Kolkata-based Rangakarmee,under director Usha Ganguli,will stage Badnam Manto,which consists of three stories,Kali Shalwar,License and Sougandhi,which have women protagonists struggling to live in a male-dominated society.

Little Thespian will stage plays on Aulaad,Sahaye and Khol Do,among others.

“Manto put a mirror in front of the society. That is why he faced flak from fundamentalists and was even dragged to court on charges of obscenity. We want to remember this great littérateur through this festival,” S M Azhar Alam,another director of Little Thespian,said.

A national seminar on social and political aspects of Manto’s literature has also been organised.