Tamasha

by Saadat Hasan Manto

'Tamasha', published in a small literary magazine from Lahore, was built around the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.

Genres: Short Stories

90 pages, Paperback

Published June 4, 2018

About the author

Saadat Hasan Manto (Urdu: سعادت حسن منٹو, Hindi: सआदत हसन मंटो), the most widely read and the most controversial short-story writer in Urdu, was born on 11 May 1912 at Sambrala in Punjab's Ludhiana District. In a writing career spanning over two decades he produced twenty-two collections of short stories, one novel, five collections of radio plays, three collections of essays, two collections of reminiscences and many scripts for films. He was tried for obscenity half a dozen times, thrice before and thrice after independence. Not always was he acquitted. Some of Manto's greatest work was produced in the last seven years of his life, a time of great financial and emotional hardship for him. He died a few months short of his forty-third birthday, in January 1955, in Lahore.

Reviews

[Bhumika · Rating 3 out of 5]

As much incapable I'm of writing a review for Manto, there's just these few words that'd sum up how his story made me feel.
- Manto questions your conscience, and writes those thoughts deep inside your heart that you keep running from and that's why you must read him.

[Drdpfemshimerg · Rating 5 out of 5]

OH MY GOD

[Tahoora Hashmi · Rating 4 out of 5]

knowing that the book is talking about Jallianwala Baug Massacre is an important point to acknowledge before getting into the story. or else it might not convey what it was supposed to.

[عروج · Rating 5 out of 5]

Damn....what do I even say about this one?

Tamsha is a collection of 7 short stories. Tamasha is Manto's first piece of writing, which he wrote after the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre of 1919. The oppressors killed over 1500 civilians, and Manto was inspired by the event to write Tamasha.

Being Manto's first literary work, it carries considerable weight. Across seven short stories, we realise where Mantos' sympathies lie and how he despises the ruling class. The stories succeed in shaking the reader into class consciousness. The latter third of the collection is particularly moving as Manto beautifully paints a tragic picture of the privilege we have, and how a bigger and hungrier working class dies to provide us with our luxuries.

[Kanavdeep Singh · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the first story written by Manto Sahab long before he became a public figure and it was based on his on experience of Jalianwala Bagh massacre. Beautiful viewpoint of a child who witnessed it.