<p>Saadat Hasan Manto is known to most of us as the ‘serious, brooding’ playwright who wrote Partition-time stories like Thanda Gosht and Toba Tek Singh. But do you know that Manto autho-red a series of hilarious radio plays on the bitter-sweet squa-bbles between couples too? <br /><br /></p>.<p>Saksham, a relatively-new theatre group in the city, recently staged four stories from Manto’s lesser-known ‘Aao...’ series and had the audience literally falling off their seats. There was no fancy setting, no blinding lights, just Manto’s imagery and his three lovable characters – husband Kishore, wife Lajwanti and friend Narayan – and the show became an instant hit.<br /><br />Despite being a gifted writer, Manto battled penury for most of his life. In the early 1940s, when he was still looking for employment, Manto penned Aao – his first anthology of short plays. In fact, he famously and poignantly wrote in the preface to Aao:<br /><br />“I was hungry and so I wrote these dramas. What I seek is appreciation for the few humorous dramas my mind has produced via my stomach, and which have made people laugh but not brought the faintest smile to my lips”.<br /><br />Saksham’s talented director, Sunil Rawat, informs us, “Though I remember having heard these plays on All India Radio many years back, it was by chance that a member of our troupe found a copy of Aao translated from Urdu to Hindi by Azra Rizvi. We tried to ad-apt a few of the radio scripts into stage plays and they turned out wonderfully.”<br /><br />“The first thing people say when they hear about (our play) ‘Miyan, Biwi Aur Manto’ is: ‘Manto ne comedy drame bhi likhe the?’ (Manto wrote comedy plays?). And once they have sat through it, they say, ‘Urdu to zyada samajh nahi ayi par maza bahut aya’. (We couldn’t understand the Urdu much, but we enjoyed a lot.)”<br /><br />Rawat’s troupe picked up only four of the ten plays in the series. ‘Aao Behes karein’ set the tone for the next one-and-a-half hour with an all-too-familiar Lajwanti nagging Kishore to “argue with her”. The poor dhobi (washerman), who had collected clothes from her in the morning, had smartly evaded a quarrel, leaving Lajwanti itching for a fight.<br /><br />‘Aao kahani likhein’ had Lajwanti again insisting that she and Kishore “write a story together”. Narayan joins them and three drive the story in three different directions till they end up with a real comical script.<br /><br />‘Aao khat suno’ had Kishore trying to read a letter by Narayan to Lajwanti for a full hour till Narayan himself arrives; and ‘Aao khoj lagayein’ featured a thief who robs the couple and then himself makes an appearance to explain his act.<br /><br />The performance by each actor - Pooja Pathak, Aryan Chaudhary, Garima, Vikram Aditya and Sunil Rawat himself - was stupendous. They brought out the essence of each character wonderfully and made it a truly enjoyable production. Rawat’s mastery of Urdu was especially the highlight during ‘Aao khoj lagayein’ when he fired one punchy dialogue after the other to defend “the craft of the tribe of thieves”.<br /><br />Pooja Pathak, who did an inimitable job of playing Lajwanti, told us, “It was a very difficult character for me. I am all of 18 and have no experience in marriage and marital arguments, but my observation of my parents and relatives certainly helped. But I am glad I played this role.”<br /><br />“I am sure it will help me in future when I get married.”<br /></p>
<p>Saadat Hasan Manto is known to most of us as the ‘serious, brooding’ playwright who wrote Partition-time stories like Thanda Gosht and Toba Tek Singh. But do you know that Manto autho-red a series of hilarious radio plays on the bitter-sweet squa-bbles between couples too? <br /><br /></p>.<p>Saksham, a relatively-new theatre group in the city, recently staged four stories from Manto’s lesser-known ‘Aao...’ series and had the audience literally falling off their seats. There was no fancy setting, no blinding lights, just Manto’s imagery and his three lovable characters – husband Kishore, wife Lajwanti and friend Narayan – and the show became an instant hit.<br /><br />Despite being a gifted writer, Manto battled penury for most of his life. In the early 1940s, when he was still looking for employment, Manto penned Aao – his first anthology of short plays. In fact, he famously and poignantly wrote in the preface to Aao:<br /><br />“I was hungry and so I wrote these dramas. What I seek is appreciation for the few humorous dramas my mind has produced via my stomach, and which have made people laugh but not brought the faintest smile to my lips”.<br /><br />Saksham’s talented director, Sunil Rawat, informs us, “Though I remember having heard these plays on All India Radio many years back, it was by chance that a member of our troupe found a copy of Aao translated from Urdu to Hindi by Azra Rizvi. We tried to ad-apt a few of the radio scripts into stage plays and they turned out wonderfully.”<br /><br />“The first thing people say when they hear about (our play) ‘Miyan, Biwi Aur Manto’ is: ‘Manto ne comedy drame bhi likhe the?’ (Manto wrote comedy plays?). And once they have sat through it, they say, ‘Urdu to zyada samajh nahi ayi par maza bahut aya’. (We couldn’t understand the Urdu much, but we enjoyed a lot.)”<br /><br />Rawat’s troupe picked up only four of the ten plays in the series. ‘Aao Behes karein’ set the tone for the next one-and-a-half hour with an all-too-familiar Lajwanti nagging Kishore to “argue with her”. The poor dhobi (washerman), who had collected clothes from her in the morning, had smartly evaded a quarrel, leaving Lajwanti itching for a fight.<br /><br />‘Aao kahani likhein’ had Lajwanti again insisting that she and Kishore “write a story together”. Narayan joins them and three drive the story in three different directions till they end up with a real comical script.<br /><br />‘Aao khat suno’ had Kishore trying to read a letter by Narayan to Lajwanti for a full hour till Narayan himself arrives; and ‘Aao khoj lagayein’ featured a thief who robs the couple and then himself makes an appearance to explain his act.<br /><br />The performance by each actor - Pooja Pathak, Aryan Chaudhary, Garima, Vikram Aditya and Sunil Rawat himself - was stupendous. They brought out the essence of each character wonderfully and made it a truly enjoyable production. Rawat’s mastery of Urdu was especially the highlight during ‘Aao khoj lagayein’ when he fired one punchy dialogue after the other to defend “the craft of the tribe of thieves”.<br /><br />Pooja Pathak, who did an inimitable job of playing Lajwanti, told us, “It was a very difficult character for me. I am all of 18 and have no experience in marriage and marital arguments, but my observation of my parents and relatives certainly helped. But I am glad I played this role.”<br /><br />“I am sure it will help me in future when I get married.”<br /></p>
