Excerpt: The Inside Story on How Locations for the Film 'Manto' Were Found

Excerpted with permission from Nandita Das’s Manto & I, Aleph Book Company (January 2020)

One of the toughest challenges I faced was recreating the two cities in the 1940s in the midst of modern-day clutter. Today, while much of the architecture of Bombay and Lahore remains intact, the onslaught of rapid modernization has ruined the charm and beauty of the era I was trying to capture. Moreover, I had serious budgetary constraints that did not allow the luxury of extensive visual effects or building too many sets. This made finding the right locations even more crucial. It was very important for me to create the atmosphere and context that would seamlessly transport the audience to the time and space I was depicting.

I had begun recces to find locations that would fit into Manto’s world much before I had raised any funds for the project. I wanted to see places that could also inspire my writing and where I could situate my scenes. I discovered some incredible locations hidden in narrow galis, Irani cafes in the most unexpected places, and homes that still looked like they belonged to the 1940s. It reminded me of my childhood summer vacations with my grandparents. They lived behind Metro Cinema, which was in the heart of what was Bombay. Walking through the lanes of today’s South Mumbai was often very disheartening—air conditioners jutting out, satellite dishes popping up from buildings, hoardings lining the streets, and many other signs of ‘modernity’, didn’t make it easy to visualize the period. Most old buildings were either too dilapidated for the era or too expensive to shoot in. In many cases, the owners were not even open to the idea of shooting on their premises.

Many friends, acquaintances and even strangers helped. Quaint hidden gems emerged, thanks to people like Rafique Baghdadi. On one of his Manto walks, he showed us a hall as a potential location. When we went to the office to seek permission, I instantly fell in love with the office itself! The switchboards, furniture, wooden partitions and windows, all were straight out of the location I had imagined for Tehseen Pictures, the Lahore film studio.

The owners reluctantly allowed us to shoot there if it were on a Sunday. And we did, despite it being more expensive to shoot on a holiday. On another day, I walked past a trade union office and peeped in through an open window. I saw three small rooms that looked like they were from the 1940s. Passion can make one fairly shameless and courageous. So, I walked in and could immediately imagine it to be Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi’s office in Lahore. To my surprise, the persons in charge quite readily agreed to rent it out for the shoot. I sent photos of the office to Saeed sahab, my informal consultant. Barring a Gandhi photo and some Hindi books, which of course would be removed, he remarked that it looked exactly like the office of Qasmi sahab! I didn’t expect it to be so perfect. Miracles do happen, however small they may seem.

Also Read: ‘Manto’ Is an Unflinching Account of a Man’s Descent Into Paranoia

The famous Kyani Café in South Bombay has been a landmark for many decades. It was one of the first locations that we had seen and soon became a meeting point for all our recces in town. The crew would have countless cups of chai there, and this is where I first had keema ghotala which became my favourite dish there. Now, when we make keema at home, we just add a couple of eggs to it. That is all that is needed for it to become keema ghotala!

So, when after several technical recces (and meals), the owners told us that they were stopping night shoots, it was a huge let-down. We had to shoot at night because of the silence and darkness needed for the scene. A panicked hunt for a replacement led us to a much smaller café in Matunga called Koolar Café. It was the last day, or rather the last night, of the shoot. There was incessant rain and all we got was six hours to shoot that scene. We managed to complete it only because the place was small, and that limited our camera angles. In retrospect, I think it all worked out for the best. And as always, the audience do not miss what they don’t get to see!

The Independence Day Party scene had a similar trajectory. The scene germinated when I was invited to the Bombay Yacht Club for lunch and was enchanted by the place. The old colonial building and its interiors were so well kept that I felt we must shoot a scene there. So, I wrote a fictional scene where Ashok Kumar, the famous actor, director and producer throws a party for his friends on the day of Independence. At the time, I didn’t realise that the place that inspired such a pivotal scene would be impossible to get. I am not one to give up easily, so after trying for several months to secure permission to shoot at the Yacht Club—all to no avail—I went to Rippon Club. In many ways, it was even more charming as it had a lived-in feeling. It was not difficult to find a way to reach the top management but their rules too were so stringent that I finally gave up the idea of shooting in a club.

Finally, the scene was shot in a big bungalow owned by a Parsi gentleman in Malabar Hill. It had high ceilings, grand doors and windows, a classic bar and some old furniture.

It is not easy to find people who are willing to give their places for shoots, as they rightly fear damage. Hanging lights, hammering nails, and having a crew of more than a hundred people in and out of a place is definitely a nuisance. The flip side is that the usual film locations rented out for shoots have been so overused that layers of cheap paint have ruined much of their charm. However, I think we managed to find more hidden gems than stock locations. Then there were places that we had locked in for shoots but lost along the way—some were freshly painted in garish colours while others were covered in scaffolding for restoration. The worst was when we did get to shoot in a picture perfect location but the scene itself had to be dropped on the editing table.

Also Read: So What Do We Do About Manto, Who Was Neither Indian Nor Pakistani?

I was hell-bent on shooting in Lahore to bring out the authenticity of the place. All international and Indian films that have been set in Lahore have been invariably shot in India—usually in Delhi or in Malerkotla in Punjab. Even Earth, a film I acted in that was set in Lahore, was shot in Old Delhi. So, I was keen to show the real city for a change. Unfortunately, due to the political climate and a media wave of anti-Pakistan sentiment in India, we could not shoot in Lahore. And so began the extensive recces over five cities— Lucknow, Bhopal, Delhi, Pune and Ahmedabad—to find our Lahore in India.

Of all places, we ended up finding it in a small town called Vaso in Gujarat. It is quite an irony that Firaaq, which was set in Gujarat, was shot in old Hyderabad to avoid any disruptions. And here, Manto’s Pakistan was being recreated and filmed in Gujarat!