Manjhi – The Mountain Man is a 2015 Indian Hindi-language biographical film based on the life of Dashrath Manjhi. Manjhi, widely known as the "Mountain Man", was a poor labourer in Gehlaur village, near Gaya in Bihar, India, who carved a path 9.1 metres (30 ft) wide and 110 metres (360 ft) long through a hill 7.6 metres (25 ft) high, using only a hammer and chisel.[4] The film is directed by Ketan Mehta, jointly produced by Viacom 18 Motion Pictures and NFDC India.[5] Upon release the film received positive critical acclaim.[6][7][8]
| Manjhi – The Mountain Man | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Ketan Mehta |
| Written by | Ketan Mehta Anjum Rajabali Mahendra Jhakar Varadraj Swami Shahzad Ahemad |
| Produced by | Bilal Khan Deepa Sahi |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Rajiv Jain[1] |
| Edited by | Pratik Chitalia[2] |
| Music by | Sandesh Shandilya Hitesh Sonik |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Viacom 18 Motion Pictures |
Release date |
|
| Country | India |
| Language | Hindi |
| Box office | est. ₹18 crore (US$2.2 million) 50 weeks[3] |
Nawazuddin Siddiqui enacted the role of Dashrath Manjhi, while Radhika Apte played Manjhi's wife. The film was released worldwide on 21 August 2015. Prior to its release preview copy of movie leaked on the web on 10 August 2015.[9] The Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) cyber police station had registered a case against few accused of leaking the movie.[10] The Bihar State Government declared the film tax-free on 30 July 2015.[11]
Plot
editIn the 1960s Dashrath Manjhi (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) lived in a small village Gehlaur near Gaya, Bihar, India with his family including his wife Phaguniya Devi (Radhika Apte) and his son. There was a rocky mountain near his village that people either had to climb across or travel round to gain access to medical care at the nearest town Wazirganj. One day Manjhi's wife (when pregnant) fell while trying to cross the mountain and eventually died giving birth to a girl, after which Manjhi decided to carve a road through it. When he started hammering the hill people called him a lunatic but that only steeled his resolve further. After 22 years of back-breaking labour, Manjhi carved a path 360 feet long, 25 feet deep in places and 30 feet wide.
Manjhi died in 2007. The film's postscript states that 52 years after he started breaking the mountain, 30 years after he finished and 4 years after his death the government finally made a metalled road to Gehlaur in 2011. He fought with the Indian government for the development of their village and for the availability of hospitals and road.
Cast
edit- Nawazuddin Siddiqui as Dashrath Manjhi
- Radhika Apte as Phaguniya-Dashrath's wife
- Sneha Pallavi as Phaguniya's Mother
- Tigmanshu Dhulia as Mukhiya (landlord)[12]
- Pankaj Tripathi as Ruab (the landlord's son)
- Gaurav Dwivedi as Alok Jha (a journalist)
- Urmila Mahanta as Lauki
- Ashraful Haque as Magru-Dashrath's father[13]
- Jagat Rawat as Shuklaji
- Varadraj Swami as Gopal's Father
- Deepa Sahi as Prime Minister Indira Gandhi
- Prashant Narayanan as Jhumru
- Rashaana Shah as Bhanwari
Soundtrack
edit| Manjhi – The Mountain Man | |
|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by Sandesh Shandilya, Hitesh Sonik | |
| Released | 9 August 2015 |
| Genre | Feature film soundtrack |
| Length | 10:45 |
| Label | Zee Music Company |
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Music | Singer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Gehlore Ki Goriya" | Deepak Ramola | Sandesh Shandilya | Bhavin Shastri, Pavni Pandey | 3.40 |
| 2. | "O Rahi" | Ketan Mehta | Sandesh Shandilya | Bhavin Shastri | 4.42 |
| 3. | "Dum Kham" | Kumaar | Hitesh Sonik | Divya Kumar | 3.03 |
| Total length: | 10:45 | ||||
Critical reception
editSweta Kaushal of Hindustan Times termed the film an inspiring, touching tale of a common man and gave the film 4.5 stars out of 5.[14] Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV gave the film 3 stars.[6] Meena Iyer of Times of India gave it 3 stars.[15] Bollywood Hungama gave it 2.5 stars.[16] Shubhra Gupta of Indian Express gave it two stars.[17]
References
edit- ^ "Manjhi The Mountain Man Movie Review". The Times of India. 21 August 2015. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
- ^ "Manjhi: The Mountain Man". IMDb.
- ^ "Box Office Collection: 'Brothers' Beats Piku Record, 'All Is Well' Overtakes 'Manjhi The Mountain Man' in First Week". International Business Times, India Edition. 28 August 2015.
- ^ "The man who made way for progress". The Indian Express. 1 July 2012. Retrieved 22 September 2012.
- ^ "Manjhi pays tribute to India's unsung heroes". indiaglitz.com. 5 August 2015.
- ^ a b "Manjhi – The Mountain Man Movie Review". NDTVMovies.com.
- ^ "'Manjhi' movie review: Nawazuddin Siddiqui is consistently watchable". The Indian Express. 21 August 2015.
- ^ Uday Bhatia. "Film review: Manjhi".
- ^ "'Manjhi: The Mountain Man' is the second movie to be leaked in 10 days after 'Mohalla Assi'". The Times of India. 3 March 2017.
- ^ "Biopic on Dashrath Manjhi leaked: Mumbai cyber police file FIR". Hindustan Times.[dead link]
- ^ "Bihar govt declares Nawazuddin Siddiqui's 'Manjhi – The Mountain Man' tax free". 30 July 2015.
- ^ "deepa sahi to play indira gandhi in nawazuddin siddiqui film manjhi: मूवी मसाला: आज तक". India Today (in Hindi). 30 July 2015. Retrieved 12 November 2015.
- ^ "Ashraful Haque passes away". The Times of India. 17 February 2015.
- ^ "Manjhi The Mountain Man review: An inspiring, touching tale of a common man". Archived from the original on 21 August 2015.
- ^ "Manjhi The Mountain Man Movie Review". The Times of India.
- ^ Bollywood Hungama (21 August 2015). "Manjhi The Mountain Man". bollywoodhungama.com. Archived from the original on 23 August 2012.
- ^ "'Manjhi – The Mountain Man' review: Any film helmed by Nawazuddin Siddiqui is worthy of being watched". The Indian Express. 21 August 2015.
