Manto remembered on his 107th birth anniversary

ISLAMABAD: Eminent story writer and author Saadat Hasan Manto was remembered on his 107th birth anniversary today (May 11 ) for his lifetime services to Urdu literature.

Born on May 11, 1912 in Ludhiana, India, Manto was a play-writer and author who produced some collections of short stories, a novel, radio plays, essays and collections of personal sketches.

He was known for controversial writing of short stories which exposed the hard truths of the society that no one dared to talk about.

Manto is best known for his stories about the partition of India, which he opposed, immediately following independence in 1947. He is acknowledged as one of the finest 20th century Urdu writers and two biographical films on Manto have been produced so far.

His most famous short stories were “Khool Do, Kaali Shalwar and Toba Tek Singh among many others.

During this time Bari enthusiastically discovered Hugo’s ‘The Last Days of Condemned, a drama expression opposition to capital punishment, and he encouraged Manto to attempt a translation of it into Urdu.

Manto completed the translation in about two weeks and sold it to the Urdu Book Stall, Lahore, which published it under the title Sarguzasht-e-Aseer (A Prisoner’s Story).

Having now become a published author, Manto aided by Hasan Abbas soon attempted a translation of Oscar Wilde’s Vera, which was published in 1934. Later, his story “Tamasha” and several others were put together into Manto’s first collection of original short stories in Urdu, Atish Pare (Sparks; also Quarrel-Provokers), published in 1936. Later he came to Lahore and joined newspaper Paras.

He died on January 18, 1955, at the age of 44.