Food moves me – irrespective of time, texture and flavor, it moves me. The method of cooking, ease of preparation, the highs and lows of flavour, the do’s and dont’s of texture and colour and the yes and no of ingesting it. Having said that people, songs and movies also leave an impression on me for they are like food too.
People can be genuine or not, songs can be pleasing or drab and last but not least, movies can have substance or not. Recently I happened to watch a movie that had substance and right after I made a dessert that can never be ignored – I imminently realized how food and films are closely intertwined.
After watching Manto – The Movie, I relished the idea of being present in that Era – where Pakistan had recently been brutally formed and where the mental hospitals were full of victims of the great 1947 partition. Where simultaneously there was an appreciation of art and artists, where everyone loved Noor Jehan and her voice, where Saadat Hasan Manto delivered his deep and intense short stories in tea houses in Lahore over butter biscuits and doodh patti chai. Where listeners were rendered speechless by Manto’s impactful and controversial endings. And last but not the least, where empaths were sent in for medical help.
For some, Manto was dark, slow and gruesome – and I beg to disagree here. For starters, the movie will be a platinum star in the history of Pakistani Cinema as it marks the revival of exceptional acting, brilliant script and heart wrenching music. The insight into Manto’s life was a revelation of how empaths feel and absorb people and incidents, how they easily get impacted by the brutalities of life, which continue to torture them for life, how they depend on intoxication to reveal their true self and how intensely they are in touch with their souls.
The movie, which runs for just under two hours, does complete justice to the struggles and mishaps in Manto’s life, his standing in the social fabric, his respect and reprimand from the family, his attachment to women and alcohol and his controversial stories running with strong sexual connotations. And the soulful, peppy, serious music fills in the missing gaps, if there were any that is.
Manto has been shown as a human being in the movie rather than a super hero where he is aware yet helpless of his addiction to alcohol, where he indulges in illicit relationships, where he looks out for his family, where he sits totally sane in a mental hospital and totally insane in his own house. And what I liked the most about the movie was the valid depiction of his inner miseries, his damaged soul, the impact of the sufferings of people around him and the constant awareness of his soul undergoing fury.
Impactful, true to life and well portrayed, this movie is a proud reel for us. I have to admit that after watching the movie I woke up with a strange hazy cloud in my mind and the best thing I could think of to clear the haze and the daze was some intense, dark and luscious chocolate. The kind that makes you appreciate the good things in life, the kind that makes life worth living. The kind that might seem unassuming to look at yet is full of radiating substance. Chocolate Molten cake with a dollop of Nutella is one such example and it is completely in line with Manto – deep, dark and impressive. Intense and flavourful, these molten cakes are easy to prepare and they completely bowl you over when a pool of bitter chocolate and melted Nutella lazes out, slowly but sensuously. It would be a sin to break it apart and then not eat it, inhaling, savoring and relishing the creation.
