(This video has been republished from The Quint’s archives to mark the release of Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s ‘Manto’. It was originally published in December 2017.)
Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s bated biography, An Ordinary Life, may have quite outlived its ‘ordinary’ sheen, but the Bollywood actor now blames it all on his unbridled ‘inner-Manto.’ To the uninitiated, Siddiqui plays the role of cherished author and playwright, Sadat Hasan Manto, in an upcoming Nandita Das short.
The biography, canvassing Siddiqui’s many romantic misendeavours, ran into trouble after multiple women said they were wrongly portrayed in the book. He also faced charges of revealing deeply personal details of his relationships with women without their prior consent.
There’s only so much that one’s inner Manto can brave, laments Siddiqui after speaking at a session on the venerated Urdu writer at Jashn-e-Rekhta in New Delhi. After his former girlfriend Niharika Singh alleged that his book was littered with “extraordinary lies,” Siddiqui says he is now wary of telling the truth.
Shortly after excerpts from his biography became public, Siddiqui had a complaint registered against him before the National Commission for Women for “outraging the modesty” of Niharika Singh.
He compares his predicament to that of Manto, who he says, enjoyed a mass-scale disapproval merely because he spoke the truth.
There’s no one like Sadat Hasan Manto. He’s Manto because he wrote what he saw – the truth. He faced charges of obscenity for his truthfulness. His language was that of ordinary people, which was also unacceptable to his contemporaries.
Siddiqui’s troubles didn’t stop at Niharika Singh. He received a legal notice from Sunita Rajwar, who found her mention in the book rather offensive. The renowned theatre actor called him an attention-seeker and said, “I did not leave you because you were poor, but because of your poor way of thinking”.
Siddiqui believes he’s paid a price for speaking the truth.Which is why he’s decided to “become a liar again.” He also pledges to not to speak the truth, should he dare to write another book.
Video Editor: Mohd Irshad
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