Saadat Hasan Manto

The Long Goodbye album review: Riz Ahmed echoes ache and bitterness of immigrants in a post-Brexit UK

Riz Ahmed released his first music in four years, The Long Goodbye, alongside a 12-minute short film.

Through Manto, how Nandita Das understood fence-sitters better, and employed cinema to evoke empathy

Only a year since her film Manto (2018) took her across the world to a myriad festivals and meets, Nandita Das is on the road yet again, with Saadat Hasan continuing to keep her faithful company. Firstpost catches up with the actor-director turned writer in Kolkata, and talks about her journey with Manto, her politics, and the only kind of people she wishes to engage with at present.

Tahir Raj Bhasin's method involves drawing inspiration from real life, and blending it with a little bit of himself

Tahir Raj Bhasin speaks to Firstpost about how his Chhicchore character, Derek, led a college life that was very different from his own, and his reaction on meeting Sunil Gavaskar for his upcoming film, 83.

Reading Fikr Taunsvi's The Sixth River in 2019: Searing account of horrors of Partition resonates even today

The first-person account of the Partition by Fikr Taunsvi, titled The Sixth River: A Journal from the Partition of India, refers to the five rivers of Punjab, to which a sixth river, that of ‘fire and blood’, was added during that bloody period. Maaz Bin Bilal’s translation brings this stunning account to readers in English, and does so at a time when those histories are repeating themselves.

How Mountbatten's monumental errors during Partition still inform the bitter relationship between India and Pakistan

The context for a bloody partition was set with the decision to sever Bengal in the east and Punjab in the west in half – giving Jinnah what he called a “moth-eaten Pakistan.” That killed any hopes of a federated India, which was Jinnah’s preference, if it allowed for power sharing and autonomy to Muslim majority provinces.

Making of Manto: Behind the scenes of the Saadat Hasan biopic

In conversation with the art director, costume designer and casting director — the architects of the world of Manto, directed by Nandita Das

Firstpost Editor's Picks: Atishi pamphlet row, Bengal votes, revisiting Manto's Bombay; today's must-read stories

Atishi’s campaign, centred on her work in the sector of public education and the demand for statehood, has drawn both sympathy and suspicion from a vote bank more polarised than ever.

Nandita Das says she is disappointed Manto won't release in Pakistan: He belongs to both countries equally

Nandita Das said that Manto was not passed by Pakistan's Censor Board, citing that 'the film has anti-Partition narrative theme and explicit scenes'

Revisiting Manto's Bombay, in words and pictures

In an attempt to place Saadat Hasan Manto's words in the Bombay he left about 70 odd years ago, lyricist Kausar Munir reads an excerpt from 'Do Gaddhay' while photographer Hashim Badani captures the city through a retrospective lens.

Saadat Hasan Manto moved to Lahore, but his Partition stories show that his soul remained in India

Manto’s viewpoint — that Partition and its violence cannot be separated — corresponds more closely to how Indians view Partition. On the other hand, Pakistanis viewed Manto's bleak perspective with ambivalence because of their enthusiasm for the creation of a new country