image:<!-- Deleted image removed: [[Image:Saadat Hasan Manto.jpg|thumb|Saadat Hasan Manto<br />
An evening to pay homage to Manto at Islamabad<br />
On dice Fiction Writer M. Hameed Shahid, On Stage (L to R) Iftkhar Aarif Chairman Academy of Letters Pakistan, Daughter of Manto, Asad M. Khan & Mubeen Mirza Fiction writers  -2008]] -->

''Saadat Hasan Manto''' (Toba Tek Singh'. 

He was also a film and radio scriptwriter, and journalist. In his short life, he published twenty-two collections of short stories, one novel, five collections of radio plays, three collections of essays, two collections of personal sketches <ref>[http://www.penguinbooksindia.com/Authordetail.aspx?AuthID=1899 Saadat Hasan Manto] Author detail at penguinbooksindia.</ref>.  

He was tried for obscenity half-a-dozen times, thrice before and thrice after independence in Pakistan <ref name=INDIA/>, but never convicted. Some of his works have been translated in other languages. 

==The writing of Manto==

Combining psychoanalysis with human behaviour, he was arguably one of the best short story tellers of the 20th century, and one of the most controversial as well. When it comes to chronicling the collective madness that prevailed in the Indian subcontinent, during and post the Partition of India in 1947, no other writer comes close to the oeuvre of Saadat Hasan Manto <ref name=kashmir/><ref name=bolo>[http://www.boloji.com/literature/00130.htm Saadat Hasan Manto] Author Profile at boloji.</ref>.

Since he started his literary career translating works of literary giants, like Victor Hugo, Oscar Wilde and many Russian masters like Chekov and Gorky, their collective influence made him search for his own moorings. This search resulted in his first story, Tamasha, based on the Jallianwala Bagh massacre at Amritsar <ref name=bbc/>. Though his earlier works influenced by the progressive writers of his times <ref>[http://dsal.uchicago.edu/books/mahfil/pager.html?volume=1&objectid=PK5461.A1M2_1_1_014.gif Digital South Asia Library] Mahfil. v 1, V. 1 ( 1963) p. 12.</ref> <ref name=bolo/> showed a marked leftist and socialist leanings, his later work progressively became stark in portraying the darkness of the human psyche, as humanist values progressively declined around the Partition. So much so that his final works that came out in the dismal social climate of post-partition Indian subcontinent and his own financial struggles reflected an innate sense of human impotency towards darkness that prevailed in the larger society, cultivating in satirism that verged on dark comedy, as seen in his final great work, Toba Tek Singh <ref>[http://www.tribuneindia.com/2000/20000319/spectrum/main2.htm#3 GREAT MINDS] The Tribune, March 19, 2000.</ref>, that not just showed a direct influence of his own stay in a veritable mental asylum, but also a reflection of collective madness that he saw in the ensuing decade of his life. To add to it, his numerous court cases and societal rebukes, deepened his cynical view of society , from which he felt ever so isolated <ref>[http://www.khalidhasan.net/fridaytimes/2002-11-22.htm Memories of Manto, Friday Times] Khalid Hasan, 2002.</ref> 
No part of human existence remain untouched or taboo for him, he sincerely brought out stories of prostitutes and pimps alike, just as he highlighted the subversive sexual slavery of the women of his times <ref>[http://www.urdustudies.com/Issue11/index.html Seminar papers] The Annual of Urdu Studies, Vol. 11, 1996.</ref>. To many contemporary women writers, his language far from being obscene brought out the women of times in realism, seen never before, and provided them with the human dignity they long deserved <ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/hindi/entertainment/story/2005/05/050510_manto_nasira.shtml He presented women as humans] Nasira Sharma, BBC Hindi, 2005.</ref>. Unlike his fellow luminaries, he never indulged in didacticism or romanticised his character, nor offered any judgement on his characters. No matter how macabre or immoral they might seem, he simply presented the characters in a realistic light, and left the judgement on to the reader's eyes. This allows his works to be interpreted in a myriad ways, depending on the viewpoint of the reader. They would appear sensationalist or prurient to one, while exceedingly human to another. Yet it was this very non-judgemental and rather unhindered truism of his pen that put him in an opposite camp frmo the media censors, social prejudices and the legal system of his times, so much so that he remained banned for many years and lost out on many opportunities to earn a healthy living. Throughout the Indian subcontinent he is still known for his scathing insight into the human behaviour as well as revelation of the macabre animalistic nature of an enraged subcontinent, that stands out amidst the brevity of his prose <ref name=kashmir/>.

He is often compared with D. H. Lawrence, and like Lawrence he also wrote about the topics considered social taboos in Indo-Pakistani Society. His topics range from the socio-economic injustice prevailing in pre- and post- colonial subcontinent, to the more controversial topics of love, sex, incest, prostitution and the typical hypocrisy of a traditional subcontinental male. In dealing with these topics, he doesn't take any pains to conceal the true state of the affair - although his short stories are often intricately structured, with vivid satire and a good sense of humour. In chronicling the lives and tribulations of the people living in lower depths of the human existence, no writer of 20th century, came close to Manto <ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/hindi/entertainment/story/2005/05/050510_manto_rajendrayadav.shtml Rajendra Yadav quote] BBC Hindi, 2005.</ref>. His concerns on the socio-political issues, from local to global level are revealed in his series,  Letters to Uncle Sam, and those to Pandit Nehru <ref name=kashmir/>. On his writing he often commented, "If you find my stories dirty, the society you are living in is dirty. With my stories, I only expose the truth" <ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/hindi/entertainment/story/2005/05/050510_manto_writing.shtml Manto on his writing] BBC Hindi, 2005.</ref>.

==Biography==
===Early life and education===
Saadat Hasan Manto was born in a Indian state of Punjab <ref>[http://www.chowk.com/articles/9007 Saadat Hasan Manto’s Letters to Uncle Sam]Chowk, April 16, 2005.</ref>. His father, Ghulam Hasan Manto was a Sub-Judge in Amritsar, while his mother, Sardar Begum, a prior widow, was the second wife to Ghulam Hasan <ref name=ZAMEEN>[http://khurramsdesk.tripod.com/manto.htm The Quintessential Storyteller] Khurram Ali Shafique. ZAMEEN, Jun-Jul 1999.</ref>. This never gave the Saadat and his sister Nasira, the requisite place in the Manto clan, and things took a turn for the worse for them, when their father, took an early retirement in 1918.

He received his early education at Muslim High School in Amritsar, but he remained a misfit throughout is school years, rapidly losing motivation in studies, ending up failing twice in matriculation. His only love during those days, was reading English Novels, for which he even stole a book, once from a Book-Stall in Amritsar Railway Station.

In 1931, he finally passed out of school <ref name=abhi/> and joined Hindu Sabha College in Amritsar, which was already volatile due the independence movement, soon it reflected in his first story, 'Tamasha', based on the Jallianwala Bagh massacre as witnessed by a seven-year old boy <ref name=bbc>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/hindi/entertainment/story/2005/05/050510_manto_sharaddutt.shtml Early Years] Biography Sharad Dutt, BBC Hindi.</ref>. 

After, his father passed away in 1932, he sobered up a bit to support his mother, though the big turning point in his life came, when in 1933 at age 21 <ref name=ZAMEEN/>, he met Abdul Bari Alig, a scholar and polemic writer, in Amritsar, who encouraged to him find his true talents, and read Russian and French authors.

===Early career===
Within a matter of months he produced an Urdu translation of Victor Hugo's 'The Last Days of a Condemned Man', which was published by Urdu Book Stall, Lahore as Sarguzasht-e-Aseer (A Prisoner's Story) <ref name=book>[http://www.bookrags.com/research/manto-saadat-hasan-ema-04/ Manto, Saadat Hasan] Author Profile at bookrags.</ref> and soon joined the editorial staff of 'Masawat', a daily, published from Ludhiana <ref name=abhi>[http://www.abhivyakti-hindi.org/lekhak/m/manto.htm Author Profile] Lekhal at abhivyakti-hindi.</ref>. His 1934 Urdu translation, of Oscar Wilde's Vera, got him due recognition amongst literary circles. Still at the continued encouragement of Abdul Bari, he published a collection of Urdu translation of Russian stories, as 'Russi Afsane'. 

This hightened enthusiasm pushed him to pursue graduation at Aligarh Muslim University, where joined in February 1934, and soon, got associated with Indian Progressive Writers' Association (IPWA). It was here that he met, writer Ali Sardar Jafri and found a new spurt in his writing, got his second story, 'Inqlaab Pasand', published in Aligarh magazine in March 1935 <ref name=bbc/>. 

There was no turning back from then on, and his first collection of original short stories in Urdu, 'Atish Pare' (Sparks; also Quarrel-Provokers) was published in 1936, at age 24. 

He left Aligarh within a year, initially for Lahore and ultimately for Bombay.

 
After 1936, he moved to Bombay, where he stayed for the next few years, editing 'Musawwir', a monthly film magazine, and also started writing scripts and dialogues for Hindi films, including 'Kisan Kanya' (1936) and 'Apni Nagariya' 1939). Soon he was making enough money, though by the time he married Safia on 26th April, 1939, he was once again in dire financial conditions. Despite financial ups and downs he continued writing for films, till he left for Delhi in January 1941.
 
He had accepted the job of writing for Urdu Service of All India Radio. This proved to be his most productive period as in the next eighteen months, he published over four collections of radio plays, Ao (Come), Manto ke Drame (Manto's Dramas), Janaze (Funerals) and Tin aurraten (Three women). He continued to write short stories, and his next short story collection Dhuan (Smoke) was soon out, followed by, 'Manto ke Afsane' and his first collection of topical essays, 'Manto ke Mazamin'. This period of, with the publication of his mixed collection 'Afsane aur drame' in 1943. Meanwhile, due a quarrel with then director of the All India Radio, poet N. M. Rashid, he left his job and returned to Bombay in July, 1942, where he started working with film industry once again, and entered his best phase in screenwriting, giving films like 'Aatth Din', 'Chal Chal Re Naujawan' and 'Mirza Ghalib', which was finally released in 1954 <ref name=INDIA>[http://www.indiaclub.com/shop/AuthorSelect.asp?Author=Saadat+Hasan+Manto Author Profile]Saadat Hasan Manto Books at indiaclub.</ref>; some of his best short stories also came from this phase, including, 'Kali Shalwar', 'Dhuan' (1943) and 'Bu' which was published in 'Qaumi Jang' (Bombay) in February 1945. Another hightlight of his second phase in Bombay was the publication of an important collection of his stories, 'Chugad', which also included the story, 'Babu Gopinath' <ref name=bbc/>. He continued to stay in Bombay, till he moved to Pakistan, in January 1948, much after the partition of India in 1947.

=== After partition of India ===
Saadat Hasan Manto arrived in Lahore sometime in early 1948. In Bombay his friends had tried to stop him from migrating to Pakistan because he was quite popular as a film writer and was making reasonably good money. Among his friends there were top actors and directors of that age -- many of them Hindus -- who were trying to prevail upon him to forget about migrating. They thought that he would be unhappy in Pakistan because the film industry of Lahore stood badly disrupted with the departure of Hindu film-makers and studio owners. But the law and order situation post-partition of British India was such that many Muslims felt insecure in India, just as many Hindus felt insecure in newly created Pakistan. That was the reason that Manto had already sent his family to Lahore and was keen to join them.  Manto and his family were among the millions of Muslims who  left present-day India for the newly created Muslim-majority nation of Pakistan.

=== Life in Lahore ===
Manto had at least one consolation. His nephew ''Hamid Jalal'' had already settled his family in a flat next to his own in ''Lakshmi Mansions'' near The main Mall. The complex was centrally located. From there every place of importance was at a stone's throw. These flats were occupied by families of some of the people who were destined to become important in the intellectual and academic fields. Manto's next door neighbour was his nephew Hamid Jalal who later became an important mediaman. In another flat, lived ''Professor G M Asar'' who taught Urdu at English as well. Then there was Miraj Khalid who was to play an important role in the politics of Pakistan. Writer ''Mustansar Hussain Tarar'''s family also lived in one of the flats there after shifting from ''Gowalmandi'', though Tarar's presence cannot be referred to as a contribution to literary ambience as Tarar was just an adoloscent at that time and hadn't even started to write.. Thus when Manto arrived in Lahore from Bombay he found an intellectual atmosphere around him. His only problem was how to cater for his family. Sadly for him, Lahore of that period did not have many opportunities to offer.

'''Saadat Hasan Manto''' (* 11. Mai 1912 in Samrala, Punjab; † 18. Januar 1955 in Lahore) war ein Urdu-Autor und Drehbuchautor. Er schrieb fiktionale Tagebuch- und Reiseberichte in Form von Kurzgeschichten. Zu seiner wichtigsten Thematik gehörte die indische Teilung im Zuge der Unabhängigkeit der Staaten Indien und Pakistan, wovon auch seine bekannteste Geschichte ''Toba Tek Singh'' handelt.

== Leben ==
Manto entstammte einer muslimisch-kaschmirischen Familie. Er arbeitete als Journalist in Aligarh und ging 1936 nach Bombay, um die Filmwochenzeitschrift ''Mussawar'' herauszugeben. Bei Ardeshir Iranis Imperial Film begann er als Drehbuchautor. 1943 wechselte er zu Filmistan und schrieb unpolitische Drehbücher. Gemeinsam mit Ashok Kumar ging er später zu Bombay Talkies. Wegen der Verfolgung von Moslems in Bombay verließ Manto 1948 das Land und ließ sich in Lahore nieder.

Er veröffentlichte 15 Kurzgeschichtenbände, den Roman ''Baghair Unwan Ke'' (1940), fünf Hörspielsammlungen, drei Essaysammlungen und zwei Skizzensammlungen und das Theaterstück ''Teen Auratein'' (1942). Nach seinem Tod erschienen unter dem Titel ''Meena Bazaar'' autobiografische Aufzeichnungen Mantos über seine Zeit beim Film. Sein Werk war Grundlage der britischen Fernsehproduktion ''Partition'' (1987).

Er wurde sechs mal wegen Obszönität angeklagt, dreimal vor und dreimal nach der Teilung Indiens und Pakistans, jedoch kam es nie zu einer Verurteilung. Einige seiner Werke sind auch in andere Sprachen übersetzt worden.

Zu seinen wichtigsten verfilmten Arbeiten gehören: ''Kisan Kanya'' (1937) von Moti Gidwani, ''Chal Chal Re Naujawan'' (1944) von Gyan Mukherjee, ''Ghar Ki Shobha'' (1944) von Harshadrai Mehta und ''Mirza Ghalib'' (1954) von Sohrab Modi.

Manto starb an Leberzirrhose.