Remembering Ismat and Manto

Hello everyone,
I have been away for a bit. Was busy with my latest play “Ismat’s love stories”.
I am a theatre artist and we just put up three packed shows of the play that I mentioned. It was very exciting as we had a house full on all 3 days.

I am tired but exhilarated with the success of our play. Loads of rehearsals and loads of appreciation.

A bit about the play

Saadat Hasan Manto; a man ahead of his times; was one of the greatest Indo-Pakistani writer and story teller in South Asian sub-continent.
To call a spade a spade is a rare trait, especially in tumultuous times and more so for writers But Manto through his stories told the world that literature and fiction didn’t have to shroud society’s hypocrisy for the sake of ‘decency’.
He is still the most widely read and the most controversial story teller. His stark and non-opinionated world view bares his characters; telling the tale as is.
"If you find these stories intolerable," Manto once famously said, "it must mean that we live in an intolerable age."

Ismat Chugtai is one of Urdu’s most prominent and accomplished women writers of the twentieth century. In 1942 she shook the Urdu literary world with her bold feminist work “The Quilt”.
She was progressive, iconoclastic, and vivid and one of the first feminist writer who explored lesbianism through her story “The Quilt”.

Ismat’s love stories

Our play outlined the works of Ismat while exploring her relationship with Manto; nuances of the chemistry between two great writers of that time.

This is me doing a character from one of Ismat’s stories.
https://www.facebook.com/pandiestheatre/
Please visit this page to know more about the play and the group.

Well, after much excitement it’s good to settle down and get back to normal. Most importantly it’s great to be back here. Will see you more often now and read more stories while indulging in some good coffee…
Thank you, will see you all soon…