‘Mantostaan’ is Compelling, Not Controversial: Dir Rahat Kazmi

‘Mantostaan’ goes to the 69th Cannes film festival, marking the birth anniversary of iconic writer Saadat Hasan Manto

Mantostaan goes to the 69th Cannes film festival and marks the birth anniversary of Saadat Hasan Manto (Photo: Twitter)

The 69th Cannes Film Festival is all set to get a taste of the partition with celebrated writer Saadat Hasan Manto’s stories. Kashmiri filmmaker Rahat Kazmi feels honoured to be premiering his four part film Mantostaan at the prestigious event. The opening of the festival itself coincides with Manto’s birth anniversary, though his touching stories will be screened later on May 14th and 16th.

Rahat Kazmi feels lucky to have come a long way, from Kashmir to Cannes. But the stories he has to tell mean more than anything else. Mantostaan brings to celluloid some of Manto’s most controversial writings- Khol Do, Thanda Gosht, Aakhri Salute and Assignment.

Mantostaan director Rahat Kazmi says just like Manto, his film is compelling, not controversial (Photo: Facebook/Rahat Kazmi)

I want people to know about Saadat Hassan who produced a total of 22 short stories, a series of 5 radio plays, two collections of personal sketches and three collections of essays. I was completely awe-struck after going through these works of Sadat Hassan Manto and wondered as to why no one had taken the initiative to direct any film based on the stories. When Manto had written those stories, there was a huge controversy, but now people who write literature appreciate him. He (Manto) was Indian and India said he was a Pakistani. He was in fact a world in his own and hence I titled the film <i>Mantostaan</i>.

Rahat Kazmi, Filmmaker&nbsp;

Rahat had to scout for locations which would resemble the era of partition. While Mantostaan addresses an issue that neither India nor Pakistan have still fully recovered from, Rahat is not expecting any backlash for it.

Day 1 of the 69th Cannes Film Festival coincides with Saadat Hasan Manto’s birth anniversary (Photo: Twitter)

We had to scout for locations, which would look of that era, we didn’t shoot anything in the studio. We mostly shot in Punjab and Jammu. There is nothing in the film which will hurt the sentiments. The approach to filmmaking should be clean and without any motives. We have retained the same zone, characters, names from the story. We did not feel the need to add or subtract anything from it.

Rahat Kazmi

Rahat also plans to show the film to Manto’s family.

They (Manto’s family) are very happy with it. They said through this film, the work of Manto will reach a wider audience, which is the biggest compliment to me. They have also applied for visa. I plan to hold a special screening for them in Kashmir after I am back from Cannes.

Rahat Kazmi

Mantostaan will premiere at the 69th Cannes Film Festival on May 14th (Photo: Facebook/Mantostaan)

The film stars Raghubir Yadav, Sonal Sehgal, Shoib Nikash Shah, Tariq Khan, Virendra Saxena among others. Rahat invested two years on serious research and a detailed study of the legendary Urdu writer, and his works. Mantostaan is a dark satire based on four of Manto’s most burning stories. The filmmaker also spent about six months meeting various historians, writers, journalists in order to lock down his approach on Manto’s works and personality. The opportunity to unveil his creation, his dedication to Manto’s literary genius, is something that Rahat believes to be a huge boost for independent filmmakers like him.

It is really a great achievement for me. I am very excited for the premiere. As an independent filmmaker, this is a huge boost for me and others because not many studios come forward to back such projects easily. A platform like Cannes will encourage us a lot, as our aim is not to earn Crores of Rupees, but to make people aware about the film.

Rahat Kazmi

Rahat also sees Mantostaan and Manto himself as compelling, rather than controversial. He believes that audiences are mature enough to distinguish right from wrong and that they will find the film moving.