Manto's pair of spectacles is a ubiquitous presence in the film. Image: Aditya Varma
I come from a really small town called NR Kandriga near Tirupati. Even trying to be different there is quite an endeavour; it’s common to grow up with expectations and aspirations to become a doctor or an engineer. I had to make a lot of unlikely choices but I knew that I wanted to pursue something offbeat. I was seeking a different form of aesthetics, one that was not conventional, coming from a small town in Andhra Pradesh.
An iIntense moment from the shooting of the scenes of Manto's short story Thanda Ghosht in Manto. Image: Aditya Varma
Nandita Das jokes around with junior artists during a scene from Saadat Hasan Manto's short story Toba Tek Singh in Manto, depicting the transfer of inmates from the asylum to the border. In Anand, Gujarat. Image: Aditya Varma
Shooting behind the scenes of a film is not something easy. While a scene is being shot, you cannot shoot. This was more acute on the sets of Manto. Often, I was shooting covertly and it was a struggle to get a frame. It became a challenge for me to find frames in places that were overlooked. In films, the storytelling is, in a way, bound by the script. Often, a lot of small details go unnoticed by the lens. But I had the liberty to capture the smallest of elements like the objects, the little things, the hidden parts of the set—the typewriter placed on the corner of the room, Manto’s glasses placed in different places, or the intense emotions of the crew and cast behind the camera. Every tiny detail contributed to the making of the whole. Someone told me that I was detached from the real film, which was perhaps partly true, because I was constantly seeking the essence of Manto. I was just building the world of Manto. That's what Nandita had told me, "Let's take this world of Manto to the outside world through your pictures.”
From a scene depicting an altercation between an Englishman and Manto at a train station in Mumbai. Image: Aditya Varma
The "infamous" 555 cigarettes, which were considered a symbol of high class in the 1940s and 50s India. Image: Aditya Varma
A real-life tailor who was cast to play a tailor from the 1940s. In Vaso, Gujarat. Image: Aditya Varma
Junior artists waiting on the recreated set of a Mumbai dock in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Image: Aditya Varma