Roshmila Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; September 22, 2018)

A decade after Firaaq, Nandita Das’s second directorial, the biopic on author Saadat Hasan Manto, arrived in the theatres on Friday and immediately ran into an unexpected hurdle with morning shows cancelled across India. As rumours flew thick and fast, there was talk that the no-show was because of pressure from “some higher authority”, with an audio clip making the rounds. Some reported that the Censor Board had raised “some issue with the dialogue” and as the discussions got more bizarre by the hour, the Twitter handle @chyPhoenix was telling Nandita and the production studio, Viacom 18, “Don’t get ashamed and turn violent as this is the Muharraam Day Madame. And being wise enough you can easily presume that outcome if this was released today. Sorry but you re talking something bluntly foolish. Regards Chymk.” Meanwhile the multiplex chain Inox informed that they had to cancel the morning shows “due to lack of content KDM” while PVR attributed it to a “technical glitch”.

A little after noon, Nandita tweeted her disappointment, stating that six years of hard work and many people’s collective intent and commitment was to find its culmination on Friday morning. “Am assured by @Viacom 18 Movies it will be fixed at noon today. Pls let me know if it hasn’t been. Spreading #Mantoiyat will not stop!” the writer-director assured.

Mirror reached out to Nandita at around 4 pm, after the film featuring Nawazuddin Siddiqui in the lead had started playing in the afternoon shows. “Yes, it was a technical glitch so I don’t want to overdo the other rumours. It’s another matter why there should have been a technical glitch? A company that does so many films every Friday.” The film has been to international festivals, from Cannes and Toronto to Singapore South-Asian International Film Festival and even had a pre-release screening. If there was a technical glitch, it’s surprising that it went undetected. “Yes, considering we had given them the film a while ago, all this should have been checked,” she admitted, adding in a Manto vein, “I guess truth will always find hurdles. But it will triumph in the end!”

Nandita insisted that she hadn’t heard the audio clip doing the rounds and wasn’t giving it much importance because “higher authorities don’t just ‘tell’ people to not do things, I am sure they can channel it better”. She was even more dismissive of the other tweet, saying, “What has Muharram got to do with Manto? There were other film releases today and they all seem to have gone smoothly.”

Pointing out that everyone was coming up with theories and rumours trivialise the real reasons, Nandita asserted that she was just relieved that the film was playing in the theatres and that people can now watch it. “The challenges just never end,” she sighed, adding that the audience play an important role in the kind of films that reach them. “They need to watch it for Manto and to encourage diverse stories.”

When asked about the limited screens the film had got and if they were expected to increase over the weekend, she replied, “If the audience response is strong, Viacom 18 will increase the screens. At least that is what they said. I am new to all this and learning as I go along. No giving up though, Mantoiyat Zindabad!”
--------------------------------
Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; September 22, 2018)

Nawazuddin Siddiqui starrer Manto had a bumpy start at theatres yesterday — morning shows of the Nandita Das directed film were cancelled across the country. It was only in the early afternoon that cinema halls began screening the film.

Talking about the unfortunate development, Das said, “I am told that there was a technical issue, but it was intriguing and overwhelming to see the support we got. People [netizens] in Ahmedabad were coordinating with those in Gurgaon, giving them hope that the film will be on screens soon. And since noon, it was up and running. We are hoping for a great run.”

The film that opened in theatres yesterday had a rude shock in its first leg — multiplex chain PVR Cinemas had to cancel the morning shows citing “technical glitch”. Another leading multiplex chain stated that the prints had reached them only in the afternoon, owing to which they had to turn down customers for the morning shows. “Hugely disappointed... six years of work and many people’s collective intent and commitment was to find its culmination this morning. Am assured by @Viacom18Movies it will be fixed at noon today. Please let us know if it has not been. Spreading # Mantoiyat will not stop (sic),” Das had posted online.