Daily Times

MUMBAI/LAHORE: After the success of blockbuster ‘Manto’ by Sarmad Khoosat, another movie is going to be produced starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui as main role on, Saadat Hasan Manto, the iconic writer of Pakistan.

Indian daily newspaper Times of India reported that Nandita Das confirmed the shooting of this movie in Mumbai and Lahore at the end of this year, while she was at the 69th Cannes Film Festival.

“Siddiqui has already done the costume tests for the role of Saadat Hasan Manto,” She said. She expressed her views about Manto being the flag-bearer of freedom of expression.

“I have Nawazuddin in mind from the very outset,” Nandita said. “But in India, economics always get in the way of art and there was pressure on me to cast a more mainstream star,” she added. “But I absolutely need the kind of nuances and depth that only Nawazuddin can deliver.”

“It’s not a cradle-to-grave biopic but a drama celebrating the life and work of a writer who was a natural rebel, a man who went against the tide without being a conscious activist,” She said about the movie. “The film will cover a period of seven years between 1946 and 1952, which was an important phase in the history of the subcontinent,” she added.