London, UK, 31 August, 2022- The Cine Ink UK has announced a new podcast series entitled ‘Ganjay Farishtay’ based on Saadat Hasan Manto’s sketches. The series in Urdu will be presented by broadcaster Pervaiz Alam. The first episode of the series ‘Ismat Chughtai’ would be available on all major podcast networks from Friday, 2 September, 2022.
Saadat Hasan Manto (1912-1955), one of the greatest short-story writers in South Asia, published about 20 collections of short stories in Urdu. Being a multi-faceted author, he went on to write five collections of radio dramas, three of essays, two of sketches, one novel, and a number of stories and screenplays for Bombay’s Hindi film industry in the 1940s.
He excelled in each creative craft. The critics acknowledge him as the father of radio drama in India.
Manto wrote both incisive and sometimes brutally scathing sketches of some of his best friends, film stars and writers of his time, leading to several controversies and gossips.
There are two collections of Manto’s sketches, Khaake (خاکے / ख़ाके), entitled ‘Ganje Farishte’ and ‘Loudspeaker’ in public domain- the first one got published in his life time but unfortunately ‘Loudspeaker’ was published six months after his death. Some of Manto’s contemporaries though did write profiles or sketches of renowned personalities but Manto took the form of profiling to a new level.
“Manto’s writing has a real-life feel to it, almost as though he is speaking to his readers and making his subjects come alive — warts and all. In the evocatively titled ‘Ganjay Farishtay’ (Bald Angels), he is not always laudatory about his subjects as, for instance, in the darkly witty sketch titled ‘Teen Golay’ about Miraji,” says Dr Rakhshanda Jalil, Writer, Translator and Literary Historian in an interview with Cine Ink.
Manto wrote sketches of Ismat Chughtai, Ashok Kumar, Pari Chehra Nasim Bano, Noor Jahan, Miraji, Nargis, Agha Hashr Kashmiri and many others.
There’s only one sketch Manto wrote before the partition of India in 1947- and that was the profile of the legendary Urdu writer, Ismat Chughtai (21 August 1915 – 24 October 1991), the first episode in Cine Ink Podcast series, ‘Ganjay Farishtay’ (Bald Angels).
Pervaiz Alam, who worked with All India Radio in Delhi and BBC Hindi/Urdu services in London, will present the podcast ‘Ganjay Farishtay’. The series will be available on Apple, Spotify, Google Podcast, Amazon Music, Jio Saavn, Spreaker, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok.
All Cine Ink Podcasts are also available on its website: www.cineink.com
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