Sadat Hasan Manto (1912-55)

Major Urdu writer and scenarist whose work has defined the literary and the filmic iconography of Partition (e.g. in his most famous story, Toba Tek Singh, cf. Manto, 1987), of the urban dispossessed and of the post- Independence political and bureaucratic ruling class. Often wrote diary or travelogue-type fictions with himself as observer or in conversation with his protagonist. A journalist in Aligarh, he went to Bombay to edit the film weekly Mussawar (1936). Joined Imperial as storywriter; in 1943 joined Filmistan, injecting some contemporary consciousness into its largely apolitical productions (e.g. Dattaram Pai’s Eight Days, 1946). Later, with Ashok Kumar, rejoined Bombay Talkies and in 1948 migrated to Lahore to get away from the persecution of Muslims in Bombay. His published writings include 15 short-story anthologies, one novel (Baghair Unwan Ke, 1940), a play (Teen Auratein, 1942), essays (Manto Ke Mazamin, 1942) and a famous autobiographical account of his years in films, Meena Bazaar (1962/1984). His work was the basis of the British TV film Partition (1987), followed by the publication of his Kingdom’s End and Other Stories; acclaimed by Salman Rushdie as the ‘master of the modern Indian short story’. Among the main films he scripted are Gidwani’s Kisan Kanya (1937), Dada Gunjal’s Apni Nagariya (1940), Shaukat Hussain’s Naukar (1943), Gyan Mukherjee’s Chal Chal Re Naujawan (dial), Harshadrai Mehta’s Ghar Ki Shobha (both 1944), Eight Days, J.K. Nanda’s Jhumke (st), Savak Vacha’s Shikari (dial; all 1946) and Sohrab Modi’s Mirza Ghalib (st; 1954).

Writer