Saadat Hasan Manto may be known for his fierce stories but actress Rasika Dugal, who plays his wife Safiyah in the upcoming Nandita Das-directed biopic, says the movie will explore the unchartered, domestic side of the author.

Nawazuddin Siddiqui has been roped in to play Manto in the film which will trace the author’s life, his relationship with his wife and his life post Partition in Lahore.

Rasika says she was very impressed with the research that Nandita has done to bring Manto’s story to life on the big screen.

"According to Nandita’s research Manto was a very doting husband. You don’t think of Manto like that. You don’t think of him domestically at all. That is an interesting aspect. He bounced off a lot of work from her and she helped him with his writing," Rasika said.

"The film is about how their relationship changes over the situations they encounter like the Partition, going to Lahore together and the several cases of obscenity against them. It is how their relationship changes." 

Rasika was offered the role after Nandita watched her in a play Bombay Talkies, which was part of the director and her husband Subodh Maskara’s initiative Cineplay.

It was after watching Rasika’s moving performance in Qissa that Nandita made up her mind to cast her as the leading lady of her much-anticipated biopic.

"After the play, we kept in touch and then when she saw ‘Qissa’ it made things fall into place.”

Rasika is currently prepping for her role in the film, which will go on floors in November this year. She is also looking forward to start working with Nawaz.

"It is great to have a co-star like Nawaz. When you have a co-actor as good as him, you can bounce things off. It is such a delight. I have worked with a lot of actors who have just nothing to give and that is so sad. When you get an interesting co-actor then half the job is done." 

Rasika has been a part of the Hindi film industry since 2007 but it was only after Qissa that she got recognition.

The actress says after the release of the Anup Singh-directed film, for the first time in her career she got a call from a director who offered her a film.

"Life after ‘Qissa’ has changed. People in the industry have taken notice and have appreciated my work. I have had three to four directors, who have offered me their film and it has never happened to me before. I am very grateful to ‘Qissa’." 

However, Rasika feels that the film did not get the due that it deserved as it got a very small release.

"I feel that the release did not do justice to the film.

It did not get its due. That was the only disappointing thing.

I keep telling Anup that ‘you have spoilt me for life’." 

Rasika is very happy with the way her career is shaping as she is getting to work with all her favourite actors be it Irrfan in Qissa, Nawaz in Manto, Neeraj Kabi in Indo- German film Once Again and Adil Hussain in a short film.

"I had a wish-list of actors I wanted to work with and half of that is done." 

Besides her film commitments, Rasika is doing Nikhil Advani’s TV show which is based on Homeland.