Cannes Film Festival 2018: 23 cast, crew members represent Manto at premiere of Nandita Das' film

Nandita Das’ period biopic _Manto,_ India’s flag-bearer in the official selection of the 71st Cannes Film Festival, premiered in France on Saturday in a packed Salle Debussy.

#MantoAtCannes @nawazuddin_S slaying the red carpet with the girlies at the official screening of #Manto@nanditadas @divyadutta25 @humaqureshi#cannes2018 pic.twitter.com/9aMWiogfVU

— सिने चिट्ठा (@cinechittha) May 13, 2018

23 members of the cast and production team took to the stage after the festival’s general delegate Thierry Fremaux introduced the director and noted the size of the Manto contingent. “It’s India,” Das quipped. “Yes, it’s India,” Thierry said in response. “Manto is set in the 1940s and 1950s, but it is about what is happening (on the subcontinent) today,” the director said. “Cannes is like home, and it is great to have my second film premiere here,” she said. In the audience was the director’s father and celebrated painter Jatin Das.

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Speaking to PTI after the screening, Das noted, “My films are rooted in a milieu but I do not seek to explain everything. If you are true to the emotions you are dealing with, a film connects instantly with the audience.”

four of us @mantagoyal @divyadutta25 @RasikaDugal here. Many more descending today. #manto contingent will be in full force. More than 20 of us!! So happy to be able to share the excitement. Nervousness will be mine alone! pic.twitter.com/GbM1q1SWaU

— Nandita Das (@nanditadas) May 13, 2018

That Manto did was pretty obvious as a stunned audience stayed on for long to congratulate the team behind the biopic of the long-deceased Saadat Hasan Manto, an uncompromising writer who fought all his working life to protect creative freedom.

“People across the world are fearful of all the unsettling developments around them. That is why Manto’s writings are as relevant today as they were back in his time,” Das said. “Initially, the script spanned a 10-year period from 1942 to 1952. In the film, that has eventually been whittled down to four years,” she said, throwing light on the six-year process from conception to completion.

All set for the Red Carpet at #FestivalDeCannes
Thank You @ManishMalhotra pic.twitter.com/oztM5vxTng

— Nawazuddin Siddiqui (@Nawazuddin_S) May 13, 2018

Das said she has used Manto’s writings extensively in developing the film but also used some fictional elements.“I do films as a means to an end. It is better to get your point across through the means of a film rather than engage with trolls on social media and in the real world,” she said.

They call me Mr. Raspberry. Second film in #cannes #2018 #mantoatcannes #uncertainregard❤️❤️❤️❤️ pic.twitter.com/oRmAZrhRrm

— Shashank Arora (@ShashankSArora) May 13, 2018

Manto, an Indo-French co-production, got off the ground a couple of years ago in Cannes, where Das and lead actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui announced their collaboration. The actor is one of the co-producers of the film. In 2017, the duo was back in Cannes to reveal the first look of Manto. That the film is now in the festival’s competitive Un certain regard section only brings its journey to a logical launch pad from where it can kick on towards other conquests. With inputs from PTI. (Also read — Nandita Das on Cannes contender Manto: Nawazuddin Siddiqui transitioned into his character effortlessly)