Saadat Hasan Manto, one of the subcontinent’s most beloved chroniclers of human follies and foibles, will be celebrated in two movies in the coming months. One is by Indian actor and director Nandita Das and is still being written. The other is ready. It’s a Pakistani production simply titled Manto, and it is scheduled to be released after the cricket World Cup sometime in April. Written by renowned Pakistani writer and theatre personality Shahid Nadeem and directed by and starring television actor and director Sarmad Khoosat, Manto maps the seven tumultuous years the author spent in Pakistan before he died in 1955. Nadeem’s Ajoka theatre group has staged several productions based on Manto’s writings, some of which were considered so scabrous as to invite official censure. These include Akhri Salute, Titwal ka Kutta, Naya Qanoon, Sahib-i-Karamat, and Toba Tek Singh. More here.