"Manto shows cancelled due to ‘technical glitch’, no interference from government or censors"

Morning shows of Nandita Das’ Manto starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui were cancelled upon release due to some ‘technical glitch’ across PVR cinema screens on Friday morning. Reacting to reports of the cancellation, Nandita Das tweeted, 

When we reached out to PVR cinemas for comment, a spokesperson assured, “Yes, some shows of Manto were cancelled across India today morning. It was a technical glitch and our IT-team is working on it. Rumours about governmental or censor-board interference are untrue. The problem was entirely technical. Many of the cancelled shows have already been relisted. We are constantly updating our online ticketing site about the available shows.”

Manto is a biopic on famed Urdu writer Saadat Hasan Manto, who faced charges of obscenity over his Partition-era short stories.

The film stars Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Rasika Dugal, Tahir Raj Bhasin, Rajshri Deshpande, Rishi Kapoor, Paresh Rawal, Ranvir Shorey, Shashank Arora, Javed Akhtar, Tillotama Shome and others.