“Manto” – Nandita Das’ directorial venture has already managed to garner enough spark and attention for its intriguing and appealing portrayal of a time that has been mostly been looked at through textbook definitions – the immediate aftermath of India’s independence.
The movie revolves around how the titular character, played by Nawaz, and his struggles to make ends meet and provide-for his family in a post-partition/Post-war Lahore, without having to compromise on his quality of work as a writer. The movie is based on the life and times of celebrated Pakistani author – Saadat Hasan Manto.
The 2 minutes 23 second trailer itself has given everyone a good glimpse of a possible ‘masterpiece’ we may be about to witness – with it’s breathtakingly stunning cinematography, stellar cast and performances and applause worthy dialogues. ‘Manto’ may just be the most powerful movie event of the year!
But like most other projects that reek such level of quality and cater to niche audiences – a lot of sacrifices need to be made by the makers and actors. For ‘Manto’ – lead actor Nawazuddin refused to take even his nominal fee and worked only for Rs 1 – for what could be more fulfilling for an artist than to get an opportunity to pull off a role like this, right?
“This is the character that an actor would give an arm and leg for. But to not charge even a nominal fee is very gracious of Nawaz,” Nandita Das said of the character.
“Trust me, there is more to life than money! The compensation comes in the form of experience and the joy of working on interesting projects. I, too, have done many such projects and have never looked for ‘monetary compensation’,” the ‘Fire’ actress further added.
Apart from Nawaz, Nandita was able to pull a string of interesting star-cast for the project based on her own ‘goodwill’ as an actress, which includes the likes of Javed Akhtar, Gurdas Mann and Rishi Kapoor – to name a few!
‘Manto’ is one movie experience we all should be giving atleast one shot to!
Watch the beautiful trailer of the flick below: