WHEN SAADAT HASAN MANTO ACTED IN A FILM PRODUCED BY HIS FRIEND ASHOK KUMAR up

                                 

WHEN MANTO ACTED IN A FILM PRODUCED BY  HIS FRIEND ASHOK KUMAR ..

(  Photo.. Manto as air  force  Kripa Ram in 'Eight Days ')

Not many of us know that Saadat Hasan Manto  has also acted in a Mumbai movie  'Aath Din'  ( Eight Days ) produced in 1946 by his friend and actor Ashok Kumar. Well known writer Upendra  Nath Ashk also acted in this movie. Ashk was a  friend of Manto since AIR days . He was also a Punjabi from Jalandhar . Ashk was associated with 'Filmistan' company  as screenplay, story  and dialogue writer. Consequently ,he was  well known to Ashok Kumar and Sashadhar Mukherjee (S. Mukherjee ).

In ' Aath Din (Eight Days ) ' , Manto performed the role of air force officer Kripa Ram while   Upendra Nath Ashak  did  the role  of Pandit Tota Ram. The movie was produced by FILMISTAN  that had Manto and Ismat Chugtai in its  story department .

 Devika Rani and her husband Himanshu Rai had started Bombay Talkies in 1934.  Actor  Ashok Kumar was  a salaried employee of   Bombay Talkies  for about five years. Himanshu Rai died in 1940 and  later in 1943,  Shashadhar Mukherjee, Rai Bahadur Chunilal, Ashok Kumar, and Gyan Mukherjee left Bombay Talkies and founded Filmistan Studios .
                                           

For the movie  ‘ Aath  Din (Eight Days) ’  , Manto wrote the  screen play and dialogues apart from performing the role of air force officer Kirpa Ram.  S D Burman, who headed the music department of  FILMISTAN  ,   scored the music for the movie .  Gopal Singh Nepali and Qamar Jalalabdi wrote songs for the movie  . Apart from Amirbai Karnataki ,Binapani Mukherjee and some more singers,  Burman Dada also sang two songs for the movie .

 It is pertinent to mention that when Ashok Kumar suggested  the role of Kripa Ram, Manto thought Ashok Kumar was  kidding. Very soon he  realized that his friend was  dead serious. Film  lyricist Raja Mehdi Ali Khan also put some additional pressure on Manto . Raja was a bosom friend of Manto . Raja too had a small role in the movie. And Manto has written  “Only God knows how terror-stricken I felt in front of the camera.”

( Avtar Mota )




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