Nandita Das's Manto celebrates Urdu writer and poet in all his flawed glory

For the uninitiated, the chills may be slightly lukewarm, especially when the film depicts Manto's short stories and afsaane as part of the script

Nandita Das’s Manto needs no preamble. And Das wastes no flourish to introduce the lead, Urdu poet and writer Saadat Hasan Manto. Das’s biopic is told through a reflective literary device, where Manto’s life mimics his writing and his writing is an adaptation of his life’s experiences. 

Sharp-witted, Manto begins with a breathless and exhilarating depiction of the Bombay of 1947. Writers, actors, musicians, lyricists all inhabit the fashionably artistic world of Bombay Talkies, the iconic film studio that was founded in 1934.

For those who have read Manto’s stories, whether forcefully through structured coursework or through some serendipity at the library,