Manto screening: Rekha, Imtiaz Ali, Manto’s daughters watch Nawazuddin Siddiqui film

At the special screening of Manto, Rekha, Imtiaz Ali, and Kabir Khan among others were present.

Bollywood celebrities including Rekha, Imtiaz Ali, Deepti Naval, Shabana Azmi and others attended a special screening of the film Manto starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui as the Indo-Pakistani, Urdu author Saadat Hasan Manto. The film is creating lot of buzz among the audience since its trailer release. Makers of the film hosted the special screening on Monday in Mumbai. The other attendants were Shaad Ali, Rasika Dugal, Tahir Raj Bhasin, Mita Vashisht, Ila Arun,

Nandita Das with Manto’s daughters Nusrat and Nushat.

Aahana Kumra, Prateik Babbar, Ali Fazal, Rahul Bose, Ajit Andhare, Ishita Chauhan, Isha Koppikar, Sonali Kulkarni, Resul Pookutty, Jim Sarbh, Vikramaditya Motwane, Lillete Dubey, Mukesh Chhabra, Sobhita Dhulipala and Shaan were also at the screening.

Directed by Nandita Das, Manto is based on the 1940’s post-Independence period of India. It is produced by HP Studios, Filmstoc, and Viacom 18 Motion Pictures. Besides Nawazuddin in the title character, the movie also stars Tahir Raj Bhasin as the 40’s Bollywood superstar Shyam Chadda and Rasika Dugal as Manto’s wife, Safia.

Actor Rasika is hosting the late Urdu writer’s daughters in India. She says that it is nice to finally get to meet the family. Manto has three daughters, who live in Lahore. They have been extremely involved in the entire process of this film. Nusrat and Nuzhat flew to Mumbai to watch the film at a special screening of Manto on Monday.

Nandita Das at the screening of her directorial Manto with the writer’s daughters Nusrat and Nuzhat.

Jim Sarbh at Manto special screening.

Kabir Khan at Manto special screening.

Mira Vashisht at Manto special screening.

Director Nandita Das at Manto special screening.

Nawazuddin Siddiqui, the titular actor of Manto at the special screening.

Prateik Babbar at Manto special screening.

Rahul Bose at Manto special screening.

Rasika Dugal at Manto special screening.

Rekha at Manto special screening.

Resul Pookutty at Manto special screening.

Shabana Azmi at Manto special screening.

Shobita Dhulipala at Manto special screening.

Ahana Kumra at Manto special screening.

Deepti Naval at Manto special screening.

Imran Khan at Manto special screening.

Isha Kopikkar at Manto special screening.

Rasika and the film’s director Nandita Das are making sure they get to see the “Bombay” that their father loved. The two daughters will also be visiting Delhi.

“It is so nice to finally get to meet the family. Nandita’s efforts have finally brought them here. It gives me great joy to show them around Bombay (now Mumbai) - the city that their parents loved,” Rasika said in a statement.

“We went to Prithvi theatre and all of us including Nawazuddin Siddiqui (who plays Manto in the film) met for dinner later. So many stories were shared about Manto and Safia (his wife),” she added.

The film premiered at this year’s Cannes Film Festival and will release in Indian theatres on September 21.

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