MANTO WITH HIS DAUGHTER IN MUMBAI
TILL HIS DEATH, MANTO COULD NEVER
FORGET MUMBAI
“Mein Chaltaa Phirtaa Bombay Huun ”
So said Manto in 1951.Yes he was
like Mumbai on wheels for the Newly Born country known as Pakistan
wherein the New Society possibly failed to understand him properly inspite of
the fact that he kept crying loudly and truthfully. Living far away from his Bombay, Manto never
forgot this city of temptations and hope .Mumbai comes directly or indirectly
in his post partition stories and essays. It also features in some letters that
he addressed to Uncle Sam ( United States Government ). About this city he once
wrote as under ..
:
“You can be happy here on two
pennies a day or on ten thousand rupees a day, if you wish. You can also spend
your life here as the unhappiest man in the world. You can do what you want. No
one will find fault with you. Nor will anyone subject you to moralizing. You
alone will have to accomplish the most difficult of tasks and you alone will
have to make the most difficult decision of your life. You may live on the
footpath or in a magnificent palace.”
Manto Moved to Mumbai in 1935 and
finally left for Lahore in January 1948.He spent a period of more than 12 years
of his life except a brief period of 2 years (1940 and 1941 ) in between when
he joined AIR New Delhi . As a young boy of 23 or 24 years, he joined Nazir
Ludhianavi’s Newspaper "Mussawir " and simultaneously kept writing
stories and radio plays . Nazir had contacts in film world and he introduced
Manto to some Film production companies. Soon he became a sought after story writer
by leading Production Houses . He also wrote screenplays and dialogues . Some
movies that he successfully wrote included 'Apni Nagarya' , Kisan Kanya, Chal
Chal Re Nawjawan ,Begum ,Naukar( 1945),Aaath din ( 1946) , Shikari ( 1946) and
'Mirza Ghalib'. Mirza Ghalib was released after he shifted to Pakistan and
was a great success. He also worked for Babu Rao Patel’s popular film journal
FILM INDIA
.
In Mumbai , Manto’s life was not
dictated by what is known as “ Light ! Camera !and Action ! ” only . He saw a
world of unbelievable range behind the glamour of these words. He made
scores of friends in this city ; some intimate and reliable while others just
to pass time. His friends in both these categories included Ashok kumar , Pran
,Shyam , Noor Jahan ,Sitara . Nargis , Kuldeep Kaur ( Actress who was also
known as KK ), rafiq gaznavi , Raja Mehdi Ali Khan , Nawaab lashmiri , Neena ,
Babu Rao Patel ,Rajinder Singh Bedi , Krishen Chander , Sardar Jafri ,Begum
Para , Padma Devi , Devika Rani , S Mukherjee ,Ismat Chugtai,Deewan Singh
Maftoon, Shobana Samarth ,Gyan Mukerjee ,P N Arora , Ardeshir Irani and many
more .Anybody who was somebody in the film world became directly or indirectly
familiar to him . This was perhaps the happiest period of his life. He drank ,
gambled , wrote and moved carefree in this city. He also felt the life throb in
the red light district of Forres Road, the chawls of Nagpara, the Cigarette
Beedi sellers ,the Paanwallas , Taxi drivers, Washermen, Fisherwomen ,Parsi
landladies , Irani Restaurants ,Jewish hotel keepers, unknown writers , Unknown
editors of unknown Urdu Newspapers ,Hangers on , Brokers of all sorts
,Strugglers , exploiters , Communists ,Baniyas , Seths and scores of people
from all segments and areas of the country . He brought them home truthfully as
Characters of his stories.
Manto described his life in Bombay to his friend and well known urdu poet
Ahmed Nadeem Kasmi in some letters that he wrote to him . I quote ..
“ I have a very bad habit of
buying books and wasting money on other avoidable things . If you come and stay
with me , I believe I shall stop all this wasteful expenditure . I have
hundreds of bad habits that are not known to you at the moment .If you come and
live with me , I shall be a naked man .But then you have to live in the sun and
shade of my life. May be you get no food to eat but for sure you shall get
books to read .
My life is like a wall.I keep
removing its plaster in bits and pieces by scrubbing my nails over it. At times
i feel like removing the entire plaster so as to make the inside bricks
visible. Quite often i feel like demolishing the entire wall to enable me to
build a new structure over it.”
This city also gave him his
dedicated and loving wife Safia whom he married in 1938.it was an arranged marriage
to his liking as safiya too was from a kashmiri family of lahore
.Safia's father , Khwaja Qamaruddin was an efficient officer in Police who had
been deputed to Zanzibar , Africa
during British rule. He had moved his family to Mumbai from Lahore. Manto's real elder sister Iqbal too
stayed at Mahim, a suburb area during those days . His mother( Died in 1940 )
too had shifted to Mumbai to live with his sister .
With Pakistan in existence, Mumbai’s
peaceful atmosphere got severely communalized . Safiya left for lahore taking her three
daughters along . Manto felt lonely but believed that things would normalize
shortly. He joined Shahid Latif and Ashok Kumar in reviving Bombay Talkies. The
company signed Ismat Chugtai as story writer for a new movie.Hurt with this
decision , Manto kept silent . He did not report for work but spent his time in
sleeping and drinking . And then one day he decided to pack up and go to Lahore via Karachi
travelling by ship from mumbai . His friend actor Shyam tried hard to stop him
but he did not agree . Shyam came to see him off .
“ Pakistan Zindabad ” said shyam.
Manto replied “ Hindustan
Zindabad ”
AND MANTO SAID GOOD BYE TO HIS
DEAR CITY NOW KNOWN AS MUMBAI ......
Manto arrived in Lahore on 8th January 1948. He saw an atmosphere
of suffocation and bullying around him. The tragedy of partition had wounded
his soul. He was deeply touched and moved by the suffering and plight of women On both sides of the border unleashed by religious frenzy during partition turmoil . He wrote an article “Mehboos Aurtein”. I quote from the article
“The responsibility of the
condition they find themselves in now lies squarely upon the wrangling within
the political arena and the religious frenzy of which we find no parallel in
the past history of mankind. If nothing else, at least we should protect these
women and cover them as our own sins. If nothing is done immediately then these
women’s plight is going to turn into a huge calamity. Hundreds, nay, thousands
of brothels are ready to welcome them in their cavernous mouths. Even the
thought should make us tremble.”
In Lahore , he started feeling choked and dashed
three letters to Ismat Chugtai seeking her help for moving back to Mumbai.
Some time before his death he
wrote a series of letters to UNCLE SAM ( American Government ) . In one such
letter dated 21st Feb, 1954 , Manto indirectly praised Mumbai’s Film Industry . I quote
“ Your film producers are taking keen interest in Bombay's
Film Industry . We can not tolerate this .I have heard that when Gregory Peck
Visited India ,he lavishly praised Suraiya's beauty and got himself photographed with her .I have
also heard that a film producer or director put his arm around Nargis's neck and
kissed her .This is too much . Have all actresses in our Pakistan died ? We have Gulshan Ara .It may be a separate story that her face is as black as
a Tawa ( Hot plate for making Chapatis ). May be when some people look at her
they utter that an Ara ( Saw ) has rubbed on Gulshan ( Glower garden ). But she
is also an actress . She has worked as a Heroine in films and she too has a Heart inside her body .We have Sabeeha as well. May be she is a little squint but
with a little attention this defect can be set right .
I have heard that you are giving
some financial aid to Indian Film Industry .This is not done dear Unle Sam. You
start giving aid to every Tom dick and Harry .
Hell with your Gregory Peck . Excuse me , i spoke these words in a fit of anger .Kindly dispatch your two three
actresses to us as our lone actor Santosh Kumar looks sad . Last time when he went to karachi , he drank about hundred bottles of Coca cola and saw actress
*Rita Hayworth one thousand times in his dreams”
Manto’s supportive and caring Nephew Hamid Jalal has written that Manto hallucinated about Bombay
even during his last days in the Lahore’s Mayo Hospital.
I quote ..
“Most of the time, he imagined
himself to be in Bombay,
where he spent the happiest period of his life. Every day, I would tell him he
was in Lahore,
but he found that hard to believe”
I conclude this post on Manto
with lines from a Gazal of noted urdu poet Zubair Rizvi
Hai Dhoop kabhi Saaya, Shola hai kabhi shabanam
Lagtaa hai Mujhe Tums a dil ka to
har ek Mausam
Beetay Huve lamhon ki Khushboo
hai Mere Ghar mein
Book Rack pe Rakhein hain Yaadon
Ke Kayee Album.
( Select Translation from Urdu ,Compilation from other sources and Text by Autar Mota 12.03.2014. My Thanks to Manto family for uploading this rare photograph on Internet )
* Rita Hayworth( 1918-1987 ) was a famous American actress and dancer .
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