Acclaimed film-maker premiered the biopic based on the controversial author’s life during the Cannes Film Festival this year.
Directed by Das with the brilliant Gangs of Wassaypur star Nawazuddin Siddiqui playing the lead role of the author, the movie opened to raving reviews in India on Friday. The first reviews rolled in almost immediately, singing praises of how well it had managed to encompass the life of the troubled author, dealing with his inner turmoil as a result of political disturbances, censorship, poverty and partition.
India Today calls it a “brilliant portrait of a self-destructive creator” while Republic used the words “intense and gripping”.
#Manto Movie Review: This Nawazuddin Siddiqui starrer is intense and grippinghttps://t.co/mJge94Zwnp
— Republic (@republic) September 20, 2018
Here's the movie review of @Nawazuddin_S's much-awaited #Manto (via @etimes)https://t.co/5Yyk2ZQgbJ
— Times of India (@timesofindia) September 18, 2018
Despite the immense positivity of the reviews, there was bad news following right behind. Apparently, the screening has been blocked in certain regions of India, leaving people confused and outraged. This blockade, assumed to have political causes, has had an adverse effect on the box office collections of the film and the reports state very low occupancy.
The main reasons given for the cancellations were that certain “higher authorities” demanded it. Another excuse was that the Central Board of Film Certification had raised issues with some dialogues used.
This is shocking! I just got a similar message from a friend in Ahmedabad.. What's going on? #viacom18 #bookmyshow #NawazuddinSiddiqui #inoxmovies https://t.co/rF9gW3M49l
— Nandita Das (@nanditadas) September 21, 2018
#Manto opens with extremely poor occupancy at the box office. Film is merely registering 5-7% occupancy at plexes. Need to show good growth from noon & evening shows to go past ₹ 1 cr nett today.
— Sumit kadel (@SumitkadeI) September 21, 2018
Fortunately, the issues were quickly dealt with and screenings resumed. Mumbai mirror reported Das saying, “It was a technical glitch so I don’t want to overdo the other rumors.”
She continued, “Yes, considering we had given them the film a while ago, all this should have been checked. I guess truth will always find hurdles. But it will triumph in the end.”
Further rumors have also erupted regarding the release of the film in Pakistan, with people pointing out how it was in the “coming soon section” of several cinema websites but had disappeared since.
Das had previously tweeted: #Manto@MantoFilm coverage from across the border, we’re working towards releasing the film in Pakistan soon!
But Danyal Gilani, chairman of the federal censor board, has revealed that no importer has approached the board so far. Nadeem Mandviwalla of Atrium Cinema also confirmed the lack of collaborative measures made by the distributors.
Needless to point out, this isn’t the first time a Bollywood production is facing screening issues in Pakistan. Earlier this year, Veere Di Wedding and Pari were both banned from release due to “bold content” that apparently went against our “Islamic” culture.
Good news is that Manto is getting the recognition it deserves internationally. Running alongside the likes of Padmaavat and Raazi, it’s going to be India’s official Oscar submission.
We saw, and adored, Sarmad Khoosat’s Manto biopic made in Pakistan a few years back and surely would love to observe how the approach differences in Das’ film. Let us cross our fingers in hope that soon we will get to witness this extraordinaire too.
