RAWALPINDI, May 16: The relevance of Saadat Hasan Manto’s work to our times and his contemporariness as a writer was celebrated here at the National College of Arts (NCA) on Friday evening through readings and dramatic expression.

He continues to mirror the ugly face of society after more than a half century of his death.

The evening presented dramatic readings of excerpts from Manto’s writings, including impressions from his work of non- fiction, some of his ideas on society and literature and his legal trial for his famous short story Thunda Gosht.

The readings were enacted by members of the theatre faculty of National College of Arts, Rawalpindi campus — Osman Khalid Butt and Faheen Azam accompanied by special guest appearances from theatre veteran and actor Naeem Tahir, actress Parveen Malik and Faisal Kamal Pasha.

The performance was held to pay special tribute to Urdu’s great story writer to commemorating the week of his birth. He was born on May 11, 1912 and died on January 18, 1955.

The performers highlighted the humiliation that Manto was subjected to facing a court trial in 1950 when his short story Thunda Gosht, arguably the best piece of imaginative prose written about the communal violence of 1947, was published and the magazine that published the story was banned and Manto was sentenced to three months of rigorous imprisonment and a penalty of Rs300. The high court revoked the sentence of imprisonment but retained the penalty.

The readings about his trial showed his anger and frustration upon being subjected to legal lynching in a court of law against a piece of literature. Manto has depicted the scenes of the trial and the atmosphere of the district court.

Born in Sambrala, in Ludhiana district of the Punjab, Manto began his literary career with Urdu translations of French and Russian realist writers. During the 1930s Manto was also particularly involved with the Indian Progressive Writers Association, a literary movement committed to articulating the ideals of social uplift and justice through literature. Though later on he disassociated from the movement.

During his career he wrote more than 200 stories and a number of essays, film scripts and radio plays. His greatest contribution was his mastery of the art of short-story writing and his use of the Urdu language with a Punjabi vernacular which presented characters in stark realism through unsettling and controversial subjects.

Manto has been a great inspiration to contemporary writers, television and theatre artists. The event was primarily arranged to inspire the young artists to draw inspiration from the literary legend.

In a bid to show the relevancy of Manto’s creations with the contemporaneous times, the faculty of the theatre department screened a dramatised version of his short story Naya Qanoon. The play written and directed by Sarmad Sehbai was given best PTV play award in 1997. It shows the disillusionment of an ordinary Indian with a new law in undivided India.