It doesn't take much to step into the chappals of Saadat Hasan Manto: round glasses, a spotless white kurta, a lit cigarette or a pen hanging from his lips. When we meet actor Shekhar Suman, he's nailed the look. But, when we speak to him, we understand he's also got under the skin of the character. After playing the role of poet and lyricist Sahir Ludhianvi in Ek Mulaqaat, Suman will play Manto in Randhir Ranjan Roy's upcoming production, Ek Haan. It follows Manto's interaction with Wazeera (played by Suchitra Krishnamoorthi), an Indian journalist, who travels to Pakistan after the Partition to interview him.

"Manto is an enigma," says Suman. "His stories, the characters he created, can be a part of himself or can be his imagination. But, the uncertainty and the mystery behind the writer of the profound stories intrigues me. This is also something we deal with in the play through Wazeera, who has come to interview him, and thinks that the characters Manto has written are about Manto himself. Manto needs to be reinstated, and it is our duty in our creative pursuits to take it upon ourselves [to do that]."