After much anticipation over whether Sadat Hasan Manto’s daughters, Nusrat and Nuzhat’s will grace the premiere of a biopic made on their controversial father, the two made it to Mumbai, India to attend it.
Accompanied by the director of the film Nandita Das, the two were escorted onto the red carpet for photo-ops, where other Bollywood celebrities such as Rekha, Imtiaz Ali, Jim Sarbh, Deepti Naval and Shabana Azmi amongst others were also present.
The sisters had last visited the neighbouring country a few decades ago to attend an event. Currently, the two are being hosted by actress Rasika Dugal, who is reportedly making sure they get to see the ‘Bombay’ that their father loved.
Nusrat and Nuzhat Manto pose with the team.
“It is so nice to finally get to meet the family,” Rasika said in a statement. “Nandita’s [Das] efforts have finally brought them here. It gives me great joy to show them around Bombay – the city that their parents loved. We went to Prithvi theatre and all of us including Nawazuddin Siddiqui (who plays Manto in the film) met for dinner later. So many stories were shared about Manto and Safia (his wife),†she added.
Manto premiered at this year’s Cannes Film Festival and will release in Indian theatres and possibly Pakistan on September 21.
