Protests in Pakistan to allow screening of film ‘Manto’ by Nandita Das
Lahore, January 14, 2019: Pakistani civil society groups, artists, writers and others are staging demonstrations in different places today January 14 to demand lifting ban on Indian movie ‘Manto’ based on legendary Urdu literary writer Saadat Hasan Manto.
The protests are going to be held in Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar and Multan at 4 pm on Monday, January 14, 2018 to demand screening of the movie in Pakistan.
A Pakistani journalist and playwright Saeed Ahmed, who is closely associated with the movie, has started an online petition on change.org. He has also made a joint call for protests with Manto Memorial Society to #FreeManto.
The Tribune report quoted him as saying that though the film was given go-ahead by Sindh branch of the Pakistani Censor Board yet it awaited no-objection by its Lahore branch. The objections cited obscenity and anti-Partition factors.
The movie on Manto by well-known Indian actor and filmmaker Nandita Das is a forceful on screen acknowledgment of the great literary legacy of the acclaimed writer in India and Pakistan.
Controversial for his iconoclastic and frank literary content, Manto who hailed from Samrala in Indian Punjab, faced court trials. He decided to settle in Pakistan after the Partition. Before that he lived in Mumbai since 1936.
Commenting on the development in Pakistan, Nandita Das in her Facebook post wrote that “It is very moving to see that so many writers, artists, activists, concerned citizens have taken it upon themselves to fight the battle to screen MANTO in Pakistan. My team and I can take zero credit for this. I hope the needle will move and GEO TV - Har Pal Geo, the distributor, will also join the efforts.”