Sarmad Khoosat's Manto is coming to television screens as a drama

Did you miss out on watching Manto while it was playing at the cinema?

Well, fret not. Sarmad Khoosat's biopic on the literary icon is coming to the small screen. Starting on 3 November, the feature film will be seen as a drama on Geo TV every Friday.

The film — which has earned rave reviews from the audience and critics alike — depicts the life of iconoclast Urdu short story writer Manto, whose life and work are still discussed and read widely all over the world. The film not only shows aspects of Manto's life but also brings to life some of his famous tales like Khol Do, Toba Tek Singh, Oopar Neeche aur Darmiyan and Thanda Gosht.

Arguably the finest short story writer in Urdu, Saadat Hasan Manto was also an accomplished columnist, feature writer, playwright for radio and to a certain extent a fine movie script writer.

Manto opens in 1951 Lahore – Manto (Sarmad Khoosat) returns home from a psychiatric hospital to his wife Safia (Sania Saeed) and three girls, and gets back to his business of writing and drinking.

To complete the picture of Manto's personal life, Sania Saeed plays Manto's wife, Safia, Saba Qamar plays Noorjehan and Arjumand Rahim plays a dancer close to the writer in the film.