Manto, one of the most highly celebrated writers of the Indian subcontinent who authored short stories primarily in Urdu.
This book is mostly a collection of short essays written both before and just after the partition. A lot of these essays would be a complementary read to his well known short stories, while some of them are more towards his other magazine writings and speeches. Rest are commentary/critique on the state of Pakistan. The book covers a range of topics like the administration/judiciary, movies, fundamentalism prevalent at the time, and the routine life in both Bombay and later in Pakistan among many others.
I had heard about Manto long back, but read his short stories just a year and a half back and instantly understood what the praise was about. His short stories have the charm of an easy approachability, yet are deep. This book covers the discourses of freedom of speech very nicely. The writing is overall sharp and consistently funny.
Two of the chapters stand out, namely “God is gracious in Pakistan”, and “What Bollywood must do”.
“God is gracious in Pakistan” (or its original and better name “Allah ka Bada Fazal Hai”) is the most unique form of writing here. It is part-satire, part-dystopia where the fundamentalists have taken over Pakistan; shutting down jails, courts, science, literature and other functionality of a nation. It shows, dare I say it, an exaggerated current-Pakistan. It proves again what a visionary Manto was. This piece invokes the Orwellian society of [book:Nineteen Eighty-Four|5471] brilliantly. I was thoroughly amused.
“What Bollywood must do” is another great chapter as it deals with the Hindi film industry, and raises points and question which sadly exist even today (although I really despise the use of the word Bollywood in this book). It talks about the state of movies (and Talkies) at the nascent 25 years. This chapter shines in a book with great chapters, and has probably the most number of quotable passages from the book. Also, I finally understood why our elders didn’t think much good about movies (hookers and prostitutes were heavily involved back then!) Manto had an amazing understanding of movie plot/structures back then, comparing the Western cinema and the shortfalls in our own.
The biggest issue I had was the translation in English language here. The writing lost a lot of its charm, and I was mostly thinking what it would sound like in Urdu language. This was a huge let-down. Conversely, it inspired me to pick up a Manto book in Urdu and start reading (I’ve never ready more than 4 consecutive lines in Urdu in my life). So, good luck to me with that.
Finally, I’d recommend this to people who would want to know how partition affected the normal people; also for the people who would like to know what effect Manto’s writing had on the society then. Lastly, you can understand a little part of what it felt to be Manto.
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Sulaiman
You can understand a little part of what it felt to be Manto
Commenté en Inde le 15 février 2018Subramanian
Beautiful translation of Saadat Hasan's stories-very much relevant today as ...
Commenté en Inde le 8 juillet 2017Tejas Nair
Foray into Urdu literature with these brilliant essays.
Commenté en Inde le 12 octobre 2014