Urdu poets have never had it this good. Even as producer Sanjay Leela Bhansali is producing a biopic on Sahir Ludhianvi, Nandita Das is making one on Sadat Hasan Manto, starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui in the lead role.
Interestingly, Hansal Mehta too was supposed to do a biopic on Manto, the Pakistani short-story writer of the 1940s, considered to be one of the finest litterateurs from the pre-partition era. His version of the movie was set to see Rajkummar Rao in the lead role, and the scripting had nearly been completed too.
But now it looks like Hansal has decided to opt out of his Manto biopic, for the sake of avoiding a clash of interests with Nandita’s film. Says Hansal, “I’m not doing the Manto film right now. My hands are full. I’m very happy that Nandita is making the film.”
Interestingly, Nawaz, who will essay Manto for Nandita, was Hansal’s first choice for the role of Dr Siras, the homosexual professor, in Aligarh.
