Manto morning shows cancelled reportedly due to 'issues with government'; Nandita Das expresses disappointment

Nandita Das' directorial Manto was releases in India today on 21 September. However, a report in News Central 24x7 states that the screenings have been cancelled pan-India owing to some instructions from authorities "higher-up", following "some issues with the government."

Nawazuddin Siddiqui in and as Manto. Image via Twitter/@iamharshdesai

Das replied to a journalist's tweet saying that she was extremely disappointed that the screenings have been cancelled.

Hugely disappointed... 6 years of work & many people's collective intent & commitment was to find its culmination this morning. Am assured by @Viacom18Movies it will be fixed at noon today. Pls let us know if it hasn’t been. Spreading #Mantoiyat will not stop! https://t.co/kuwWcn5Xa8

— Nandita Das (@nanditadas) September 21, 2018

Though the show timings were updated on Thursday night, there were abrupt instructions to cancel the screening on Friday morning. A customer service representative of PVR was said to have informed the daily that there were apparent issues with the 'dialogue' that was raised by Central Board Of Film Certification (CBFC), and thus PVR Cinemas put Manto's screening on hold. Manto was cleared by the CBFC and the makers had also kept a special screening of the film in Mumbai on Monday.

The Nawazuddin Siddiqui-Rasika Dugal narrative charts the journey of Urdu poet Saadat Hasan Manto.