Manto: Nandita Das' directorial, featuring Nawazuddin Siddiqui, to be screened at BFI London Film Festival

Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s Manto , which is helmed by actress-filmmaker Nandita Das, will be screened at the 62nd BFI London Film Festival. “Since Fire, my first film 22 years ago, I have shown my film at the London Film Festival. Over the years, many of my films have been screened there. I love the multicultural audience of London,” Nandita said in a statement to IANS. [caption id=“attachment_5092501” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Nawazuddin Siddiqui will be essaying the role of Urdu poet Saadat Hasasn Manto.[/caption] “BFI has had repeated screenings of Firaaq apart from showing at their festival. I am very much looking forward to taking Manto to the festival this October,” she added. The fest will go on from 10-21 October . And Manto will be screened at the festival on 11-12 October. Manto, co-produced by HP Studios, Filmstoc and Viacom18 Motion Pictures, traces the life of writer Saadat Hasan Manto. Nawazuddin Siddiqui will be seen bringing the character to life. The film follows the most tumultuous years in the life of iconoclastic writer Manto and those of the countries - India and Pakistan - which Manto inhabited and chronicled. The film stars Rasika Dugal as Manto’s wife and Tahir Raj Bhasin, Rishi Kapoor and Divya Dutta in key roles. As reported earlier , Manto portrays the poet’s move to Lahore after partition and how he finds himself bereft of friends and unable to find takers for his writings. The film is already making waves on the international circuit as it has  made its way  to the Un Certain Regard segment of the Cannes Film Festival. Manto is scheduled to hit theatres on 21 September, 2018. (With inputs from Indo-Asian News Service)