MERA DUSHMAN MANTO
Genre: Drama
Language: Hindi
Director: Mathura Kalauny
Writer: Mathura Kalauny
Theatre Group: Kalāyan
Run Time: 100 minutes
Venue:
Alliance Francaise de Bangalore
108 Thimmaiah Road, Vasanthnagar, Bengaluru – 560052
Date: 10th May 2019
Time: 4:30 PM, 7:30 PM
Ticket Price: ₹ 300
Age Limit: 18 years and above
Actors
Abhishek Sultania, Aloka Chatterjea, Amit Aggarwal, Amit Kalra, Aniruddha Roy, Anish Singh, Anjali, Debanjana, Harshal Dwivedi, Reetesh Ranjan, Sagnik Sinha,Sameer Suman, Shakti Deora, Shefali Singh, Shweta Gupta
Technical
Arun Kumar N, Jose Manuel, Sandeep Papnai
About the play
Upendra Nath Ashk was the first Hindi dramatist to receive Sangeet Natak Akademi Award. He was hired by All India Radio (AIR) as a playwright and Hindi adviser in 1941 where Saadat Hasan Manto was already working in its Urdu service. There was no love lost between these two great authors. Ashk was critical of Manto’s writing, and Manto was dismissive of Ashq’s story telling skills. Manto sought every conceivable opportunity to confront him. The play Mera Dushman Manto is dramatisation of representative short stories of Ashk and Manto, and a glimpse of Manto’s life through the eyes of Upendranath Ashk.
Dachi (Ashk) was a new genre Hindi short story of that time. The story is very evocative and lucidly brings out the softer feelings of human nature hitherto found only in Sanskrit literature. Khushiya (Manto) is story of a lowly pimp who suddenly discovers self-respect. Ubal (Ashk) and Blouse (Manto) are stories about teenage domestic help struggling to cope with harmonal changes in their bodies. Then there is License (Manto) a typical Manto short story which has a hard hitting ending that leaves the audience shell shocked. And of course the skirmish between the authors adds to the drama of Mera Dushman Manto and makes for a scintillating evening of play watching.
Director’s Profile
Produced and Directed: 30 plays for Kalāyan
Authored: 21 plays, 150 short stories, 4 novelettes
Editor: Kalāyan Patrika Webzine