Movie Review: Manjhi – The Mountain Man
Apart from our great leaders, who laid the foundation of the Independence movement, India has also had quite a few unsung heroes (common men) whose stories not just inspire, but also pleasantly surprise with the extent of the respective achievements.
Manjhi – The Mountain Man, directed by Ketan Mehta, is the unusual tale of Dashrath Manjhi, a poor labourer in Gehlaur village, near Gaya in Bihar, who carved a path through a mountain using only a hammer and chisel.
The film begins with a young Dashrath (played Nawazuddin Siddiqui) returns to his village (Gehlaur) after a decade, having worked at Dhanbad (coal mines), with a hope to improve his family’s financial & social conditions, post independence. On his way back, he falls in love with a village belle Phaguniya (played by Radhika Apte). His joy knows no bounds when he understands that she is the same girl whom he was married to, in childhood. Dashrath manages to bring Phaguniya home, and starts leading a decent family life, amidst the atrocities of local zamindars, and the problems faced by fellow labourers.
All is well, where one fine day, tragedy strikes and Dashrath’s life comes to a standstill. He strongly believes that the huge mountain, separating his village from Wazirganj city, is solely responsible for the damage, and takes up a challenge to bring it down to its knees. Here begins the inspiring journey of his pursuit towards achieving Mission Impossible, with bare minimum tools.
Ketan Mehta, earlier having directed biographies on popular figures, viz. Sardar Vallabhai Patel, Mangal Pandey & Raja Ravi Verma, succeeds to a large extent in depicting Manjhi’s struggle on screen.
Apart from the central theme, the story does succeed in highlighting few other social issues viz. untouchability, casteism, dominance of the zamindars / mukhiyaas, gap between Government plans & its actual implementation on ground, etc. which are still a challenge to the Indian rural masses. One could easily connect them to the growing suicides by farmers in recent times.
The narrative in the first half is pretty fast paced and crisp. However, the second half seems a bit dragged. Few critical scenes fall prey to cinematic liberty, making the portions look Bollywoodized, which might have perhaps been done for entertainment value.
Dialogues by Shahzad Ahmad which also involve 99% of Bihari dialect are straight forward and quite impactful. The best of lot are reserved for Nawaz, whose voice echoes as the soul of the film, and keeps playing in your head, even after the film gets over.
Cinematography by Rajiv Jain complemented by Nitin Desai’s set designs perfectly captures the stunning visuals of Gehlaur, Wazirganj & its neighbouring villages. The shots depicting extreme climatic conditions & natural calamities are also brilliantly executed.
Music by Sandesh Shandilya, and lyrics Deepak Ramola, with elements of traditional ‘Bihari’ folk gels well with the mood of the film
Performance wise, it is Nawaz, who carries the entire film on his shoulders, with complete élan and ease. His body language, dialogue delivery, understanding of the character is just perfect. He is indeed one ‘helluva’ actor just keeps innovating himself film after film.
Radhika Apte does complete justice to her role, but falls short of screen space. Gaurav Dwivedi as Alok Jha, the journalist extends rock solid support to Manjhi’s character. Tigmanshu Dhulia and Pankaj Tripathi play their parts well, with an uncanny resemblance to their Gangs of Wasseypur characters. Prashant Narayanan makes an impact in a brief appearance. Deepa Sahi’s cameo as Former (Late) Prime Minister Smt. Indira Gandhi seemed a bit awkward. Late Ashraful Haq does well as Dashrath’s father.
Overall, Manjhi the Mountain Man is an inspiring tale which deserves to be told, seen, and learnt from, by every Indian at least once.
The film conveys a strong message that believing in one-self, and developing a road-map to carve your own pathway, no matter how much time it takes, is the only solution to one’s own problems.
To summarize, keeping in mind the sincere efforts & immense hard-work put in by Ketan Mehta, his entire cast & crew (Nawazuddin Siddiqui in particular), and as a salute to Shri Dashrath Manjhi, the man himself, three apt words would be “SHANDAAR JABARJAST ZINDABAD”!
Rating: ***
We The People 