Saadat Hasan Manto is a famous Indian and Pakistani writer, playwright and author. Manto has carved a niche for himself with his unconventional writing style. Let’s take a look at some interesting facts about Sadat Hassan Manto, his personal life, writing journey and death.
Biography/Wiki
Saadat Hasan Manto was born on May 11, 1912, in Paplodi village, Samrala, Ludhiana, Punjab, British India. His nationality is Indo-Pakistani because he was in India before the partition of India and he became a Pakistani after his family migrated to Pakistan after the partition of India and Pakistan. He is famous for his Urdu plays, novels, short stories, radio plays, essays and personal sketches. Manto wrote extensively about the harsh realities of society, and his writing style was largely unconventional. Scholar and polemicist Abdel Bari Aliq encouraged Sadat Hassan to read works by French and Russian authors. From now on, start writing short stories. His life was full of struggles. Sadat Hasan Manto was tried six times in India and Pakistan on charges of immorality in his writings.
Family & Children
Sadat Hassan Manto was born into a middle-class Islamic family in Ludhiana, a city dominated by Sikhs in British India. His father was Ghulam Hassan Manto and his mother was Sardar Hasan. Begum. His father was a local court judge. Ethnically he was a Kashmiri and he was so proud of being a Kashmiri that he once wrote to Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru that “Beauty” was synonymous with “Kashmir” .
Sadat Hassan Manto childhood photos
Manto is a citizen of India and Pakistan because his family moved to the Pakistani city of Lahore after the partition of India and Pakistan. In 1936, his parents arranged for him to marry Safia Deen (later Safia Manto); he was also born on May 11, but four years before Manto, in 1916. In 1936, Manto wrote an entire essay about his marriage titled Meri Shaadi (My Wedding).
Sadat Hassan Manto and his wife Safia
Sadat Hassan Manto and his wife Safia
Saadat Hasan Manto with his wife Safia (left) and sister-in-law Zakia Hamid Jalal
Sadat and Safiya had a son, Arif, who died in infancy. Sadat and Safiya were heartbroken by their son’s death. Thereafter, they had three daughters: Nighat Manto, Nuzhat Manto and Nusrat Manto.
Sadat Hassan Manto and his daughters
Manto with wife Safia (left), sister-in-law Zakia Hameed Jalal and baby Nighat in Mumbai
Sadat Hassan Manto and his daughter
Sadat Hasan Manto’s daughter with Indian director Nandita Das (circled)
After the partition of India, Manto moved to Pakistan in January 1948. Initially, Manto opposed Partition and even refused to travel to the newly formed Pakistan, despite being a Muslim. One night, while he was drinking with his Hindu colleagues, one of them said: “If they had not been friends, he would have killed Manto.” The next day, Manto decided to leave the country and take his family to Lahore. you.
partition of india
Profession
In 1933, 21-year-old Saadat Hasan Manto met scholar and polemicist Abdul Bari Alig in Amritsar. changed. Abdel Bari Alig encouraged him to read works by French and Russian writers. He was deeply influenced by Abdul Bari and decided to join Aligarh Muslim University. Manto completed his graduation and postgraduate studies from Aligarh Muslim University.
Professor Abdul Bari Aliq
Through his study of Western writers, he learned the art of short story writing, and by his early 20s he was translating stories from French, Russian, and English into Urdu. Manto’s first story was “Sarguzasht-e-Aseer” (The Prisoner’s Story), an Urdu translation of Victor Hugo’s “The Last Day of the Condemned Man”.
Victor Hugo “The Last Day of a Condemned Man”
Usually, Sadat Hassan Manto preferred to write the entire story in one go. Most of his subjects tend to be people on the margins of society. While studying at Aligarh Muslim University, Manto became associated with the Indian Progressive Writers Association (IPWA). It was at Aligarh Muslim University that he wrote his second novel, “Inqilaab Pasand”, which was published in Aligarh Magazine in March 1935.
Injirab Pasand by Sadat Hassan Manto
Then, in 1941, he joined the All India Radio Urdu Service and published four radio drama books – “Aao”, “Manto Ke Drame”, “Janaze” and “Teen Moti Auratein”.
Radio drama by Sadat Hassan Manto
Young Moti Olatan by Saadat Hasan Manto
Manto also wrote short stories such as “Dhuan” and “Manto Ke Afsane”. His first collection of essays was Manto Ke Mazameen.
Duane by Sadat Hassan Manto
In 1942, due to some differences with the director of All India Radio, he quit his job and returned to Bombay, where he once again started to venture into the film industry. This was the best phase of his screenwriting career, with films such as “Shikari” and “Aatth Din” ”, “Mirza Ghalib” and “Chal Chal Re Naujawan”.
Deer(1946)
Aden(1946)
Chalchar Ray Naujawan (1944)
Mirza Ghalib(1954)
In 1947, he and his family moved to Lahore, Pakistan. During his stay in Lahore, Manto established contacts with several famous intellectuals including “Nasir Kazmi”, “Faiz Ahmad Faiz”, “Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi” and “Ahmad Rahi” among others. These intellectuals will gather at Lahore’s iconic ‘Pak Teahouse’ to engage in heated political debates and literary debates.
Pak Teahouse, Lahore
In early 1950, Manto wrote an article titled “Letter to Uncle Sam” to explore Pakistan’s fate in international relations. In one such article, he predicted a future in which everything—music and art, literature and poetry—would be censored. In another letter to Uncle Sam, he wrote: “Uncle, you won’t believe that even though I’ve written 20, 22 books, I don’t have a house to live in.”
Letter from Sadat Hassan Manto to Uncle Sam
dispute
Sadat Hassan Manto faced trial for obscenity in India and Pakistan; three times in India (under Section 292 of the pre-1947 Indian Penal Code) for his books (“Dhuan”, “Bu” and “Kali Shalwar”) Article), has been recognized three times in Pakistan (under the Post-1947 Pakistan Penal Code) for his writings (“Khol Do”, “Thanda Gosht” and “Upar Neeche Darmiyaan”). However, he was fined for only one incident.
die
Manto became addicted to alcohol, which became the cause of his death. He died at the age of 42 in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan due to multiple organ failure due to excessive drinking on January 18, 1955.
Nearly six months before his death, Manto wrote his epitaph which read “Here lies Sadat Hassan Manto, and with him are buried all the secrets and mysteries of the art of story writing” . He lay beneath the mound, still wondering which of the two men was the greater storyteller—God or him. However, it was never used on his tombstone.
Sadat Hassan Manto’s epitaph
After Manto’s death, his life story became the subject of intense reflection and discussion.
Awards and recognition
- On August 14, 2012, the Pakistani government posthumously awarded him the “Nishan-e-Imtiaz” medal.
Nishan Imtiaz
- On the occasion of Manto’s birth centenary, Danish Iqbal’s stage play Ek Kutte Ki Kahani presents Manto in a new light.
- In January 2005, on the 50th anniversary of Manto’s death, Pakistan issued a stamp in his honor.
Stamps of Sadat Hassan Manto
- In 2015, the Pakistani biographical drama “Manto” directed by Sarmad Sultan Kosat was released.
- In 2017, Manto’s Bollywood film of the same name was directed by Nandita Das and starred Nawazuddin Siddiqui.
favorite thing
- Sadat Hasan Manto likes to eat Gajjar Ka Halwa (an Indian beet made from carrots).
- He likes to write with a silver-tipped Sheaffer pen.
- Manto preferred to wear golden embroidered Juttis (shoes).
- His favorite destination was Bombay, now Bombay.
fact
- Sadat Hassan Manto smoked and drank.
Sadat Hassan Manto smoking
- His hobbies are reading, writing and traveling.
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education