Sixty-four years after death, Manto lives on

Saadat Hassan Manto, who passed away at the age of 43 on this day in 1955, is a prominent name in the archives of Urdu literature. Considered among the greatest contemporary Urdu short story writers of the 20th century, Manto has left a legacy that stretches far and wide.

Manto faced persecution for using his work as a tool to break the status quo and questioning double standards of socially enforced morality. He was tried for obscenity six times; thrice before 1947 in British India, and thrice after independence in 1947 in Pakistan, but never convicted.

He produced 22 collections of short stories, a novel, five series of radio plays, three collections of essays and two collections of personal sketches.

It is ironic that while Manto brings recognition to Pakistan, he still faces censorship in the country as Nandita Das’s biopic starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui as Manto was not cleared for viewing in Pakistan for “anti-Partition narrative theme and explicit scenes” and a Manto Festival at Alhamra was also postponed due to concerns over “vulgarity”.

On his 64th death anniversary, the Government of Pakistan wrote that “his writings have had a profound impact on millions of readers”.