Saadat Hasan Manto

Saadat Hasan Manto is a renowned Pakistani writer, playwright and novelist who remains celebrated as the greatest short-story author in Urdu literature. He maintained an active literary career from 1933 through his death in 1955. His body of work includes 22 collections of short stories, one novel, five series of radio plays, three collections of essays and two collections of personal sketches.

Early life and education

Manto was born on 11 May 1912 at Paprodi village in the Samrala district of British Punjab. He belonged to a Punjabi Muslim family with Kashmiri ancestry. His father, Khwaja Ghulam Hasan, served as a session judge of a local court. His mother, Sardar Begum, was of Pashtun ancestry and was the second wife of his father.

He attended a Muslim High School in Amritsar where he failed his matriculation examination twice. After dropping out of Hindu Sabha College following his first year, he met the scholar Abdul Bari Alig in 1933. This meeting served as a turning point because Alig encouraged him to read French and Russian authors. Manto translated Victor Hugo's The Last Day of a Condemned Man into Urdu, which was published as Sarguzasht-e-Aseer. He also translated Oscar Wilde’s Vera in 1934.

His first original Urdu story, Tamasha, appeared under a pseudonym in the newspaper Khalq. He later joined Aligarh Muslim University in July 1934 to pursue graduation. While at the university, he met the writer Ali Sardar Jafri and joined a literary circle that became the Indian Progressive Writers' Association. His studies ended after nine months when he was diagnosed with tuberculosis. He spent three months at a sanatorium in Batote, Kashmir, before returning to Amritsar.

Career

Manto moved to Lahore to find work and joined the newspaper Paras. He published his first collection of original short stories, Atish Paray, in 1936. Later that year, he relocated to Bombay to edit the weekly Mussawir. During his time in Bombay, he wrote scripts for the Hindi film industry at Imperial Film Company and Saroj Movietone. He also authored radio plays such as Ao Radio Sunen and Qalopatrah ki maut.

In January 1941, he moved to Delhi to write for the Urdu Service of All India Radio. This period proved highly productive as he published four collections of radio plays including Aao and Janaze. He also released his short story collection Dhuan and his first topical essay collection, Manto ke Mazamin. Following disagreements with colleagues, he returned to Bombay in July 1942 to rejoin the film industry.

Manto joined Filmistan studio in 1942 and worked on films such as Aatth Din and Mirza Ghalib. His short stories from this era include Kaali Shalwar and Bu. He eventually joined Bombay Talkies in 1947. Although he originally intended to remain in India after the partition, he decided to migrate to Pakistan in 1948. He traveled by ship and settled in Lahore with his family after a brief stay in Karachi.

Throughout his career, Manto faced legal challenges regarding his prose. He was tried six times for alleged obscenity—three times in British India before 1947 and three times in Pakistan after independence. Despite these legal battles, he was never convicted of any crime.

Personal life

Manto identified strongly with his heritage, claiming both Punjabi and Kashmiri roots. He famously remarked that the Punjabi tongue spoke behind his Urdu. In 1948, his wife and children traveled to Lahore to visit relatives, which influenced his decision to move to Pakistan permanently. He lived his final years as a "muhajir" in Lahore.

Awards and recognition

His literary contributions are archived by Rekhta. Manto is the subject of two biographical films: the 2015 film Manto directed by Sarmad Khoosat and the 2018 film Manto directed by Nandita Das. He was awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of Excellence.