Manjhi: The Mountain Man| Reviews - Page 2

Saibal Chatterjee | Friday, August 21, 2015

ing: 3.5/5

Inspired by a true story, Manjhi - The Mountain Man is a stirring tale of an unsung hero, Dashrath Manjhi (Nawazuddin Siddiqui), the man who single handedly cut a mountain to pave a path from his village Gehlore to the nearest town, Wazirganj near Gaya in Bihar. Manjhi - The Mountain Man (U): Book Your Tickets Right Away! It is a tale of romance and revenge, determination and grit, often compared to the Mughul Emperor Shah Jahan's love for his wife Mumtaz Mahal. But unlike Shah Jahan, Dashrath was a mere casual labourer who was often scoffed at as 'pagla', an obstinate fool.

Director: Ketan Mehta;

Manjhi The Mountain Man

Plot: After an unfortunate accident in 1960 in which Dashrath lost his wife, Phaguniya (Radhika Apte), he plunges into his mission which, like the Taj Mahal, took him nearly 22 years to complete. Ketan Mehta's depiction of the tale begins with Dashrath in soiled and blood-soaked attire standing on an elevated highland before the mighty mountain seething with anger and swearing to avenge nature for being the cause of his wife's death. The story unfolds seamlessly, in a non-linear manner revealing Dashrath's past, present along with his dreams and fantasy. The screenplay brilliantly captures the socio-political scenario that includes the caste and feudal caste-system, the careless and corrupt functioning of the bureaucrats and the callous government. And as the drama unfolds with stimulating and realistic performances, it is a treat to watch Nawazuddin Siddiqui in a physically strenuous role slipping into Dashrath's cloak with ease. He does go overboard in a few scenes, but with his rugged appearance and obviously natural histrionics, he steals the show with his simplicity. He is accompanied by Radhika Apte as his wife Phaguniya, who is the raison d'tre of his obsession. She brightens up the screen with her bubbly demeanour and together they make a charming pair. Of the supporting cast, it is Ashraf Ul Haque as Dashrath's father Magru, who leaves an indelible mark as an actor. Also, the producer Deepa Sahi in a cameo as Indira Gandhi, is striking. And the rest of the cast are simply superb, delivering stereotypical characters to perfection. The dialogues are everyday speech, packed with life's lessons. His "Shandaar, zabardast, zindabad" becomes a signature dialogue that is recurrent during the latter part of the narration. At times this feels unnatural and staged. On a lighter note, after Dashrath completed his project, he is asked, "What message would you like to give the future generation". He promptly responds with, "Bhagwan ke bharose pe mat raho, kya pata woh aap ke bharose mein baitha hai?" (Which simply means, "Don't depend on god to complete your task, who knows, he may be depending on you to complete the task). It simply elicits chuckles.

Technicalities: On the technical front, mounted on a magnificent scale with great production values, each scene is well-crafted and painstakingly executed. While some of the scenes are overtly dramatic, the film buoys on a high pitch note. The background score is haunting and the songs, "Gehlore ki goriha", "O rahi" and "Dum kham" merge beautifully into the narration. Cinematographer Rajeev Jain's visuals are artistic and each frame is picture-perfect. Given the fine calibre of the visuals, some of the computer-generated images seem tackily done. They do not mesh well with the final flow.

Verdict: Overall, it is a treat to watch Manjhi - The Mountain Man. It is a great film. You empathise with him, but unfortunately you don't get emotionally involved. Probably the roots are too rural or there is something missing.

Read more at: http://www.filmibeat.com/bollywood/reviews/2015/manjhi-the-mountain-man-movie-review-nawazuddin-siddiqui-radhika-apte-195207-195209.html

Amongst all the popular genres in Bollywood, the one genre which is fast gaining popularity is that of biopics. The recent times have seen the silver screen mirroring the biopics of many distinguished and iconic personalities. Be it PAAN SINGH TOMAR, THE DIRTY PICTURE, RANG RASIYA, BHAAG MILKHA BHAAG, MARY KOM, Bollywood audiences are opening up to such real life stories. This week's release MANJHI - THE MOUNTAIN MAN, is a biopic of the late Dashrath Maanjhi, who is popularly known as the 'Mountain Man'. Will it reflect at the box-office as a winner or will it find its survival in the box-office as an uphill task, let's analyze.

The story starts off with a 'conversation' between Dashrath Maanjhi (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) and a humongous mountain, in which he cries his heart out before the mountain with all the aggression. The 'heat' of his conversation is so much that it (quite literally) sparks off a fire! The story then gets into a flashback mode wherein it shows all the events that lead him to the present day situation. The flashback shows Dashrath, who hails from a totally backward class, getting married to Phaguniya (Radhika Apte) during childhood itself. Because of his father's inability to pay the debts, he plans to leave Dashrath with the village's merciless Mukhiya (Tigmanshu Dhulia) as his domestic help. But the self-respecting Dashrath bites off his father's hand and runs away from the village itself... only to return after a gap of seven long years. While he sees that things haven't changed much in the village in terms of progress, his love life blooms the very moment he sets his eyes on Phaguniya. His joy knows no end when he discovers that Phaguniya is no one else but the same girl whom he got married to in his childhood. After all the drama that takes place because of his unemployment, Dashrath and Phaguniya run away from the 'clutches' of their parents, only to live a peaceful life forever. Dashrath loves her so much that his life becomes impossible without her. After the delivery of their first child, Phaguniya conceives for the second time. The dutiful wife that she is, she climbs the hilly mountains to bring lunch for Dashrath, who works incessantly in order to give his family a happy life. One day, pregnant Phaguniya, while climbing the hills, slips from there and passes away after delivering her second child. Unable to bear the grief of the sudden death of her wife, Dashrath feels that the hilly 'egoistic' mountains are the killers. In order to teach these mountains a lesson that they will never forget, he starts cutting them with an axe ... all single handedly, totally devoid of the people's reactions and perceptions towards him. Does he succeed in taking his wife's death's revenge from the mountains, does he have a change of heart, and does the government or anyone else help in his 'uphill task' endeavour is what forms the rest of the film.

The veteran film maker Ketan Mehta makes a comeback as a director and a screenplay writer (alongwith Mahendra Jhakar) with MANJHI - THE MOUNTAIN MAN. He needs to be applauded for translating a real life story into a film with utmost ease and conviction is his characters. Even though the film starts looking like a docudrama at certain places, the film's screenplay and the leading characters' flawless performances raises the film's standards superlatively. Full marks to Ketan Mehta for having shown such confidence in Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Radhika Apte that it starts showing in their enchanting and endearing performances every time they come on screen.

In the process of ensuring that film's plot establishes itself in the first half, Ketan Mehta leaves no stone unturned while narrating the film's engaging second half, despite the fact that the film becomes a constant reminder about the Hollywood flick 127 HOURS a la Bihar style.

As for the performances, Nawazuddin Siddiqui comes a clean winner in the title role of Dashrath Maanjhi. The level of his performance in the film is so superlatively high, that you just cannot imagine any other actor performing this role with the kind of conviction, confidence and effortlessness that he exhibits in the film. One just cannot afford to miss the scenes wherein he and Radhika Apte emerge out of the mud, him cutting his toe after snakebite, his filling his hunger and thirst by licking the moss and eating leaves. All in all, his performance in the film is what one would call as 'shaandaar, jabbardast, zindaabaad'. Radhika Apte, on the other hand, offers able support to Nawazuddin Siddiqui as his ever-dutiful, loving, caring, understanding and inspiring wife. All of this, without being at the risk of going overboard. The onscreen chemistry that she exudes with Nawazuddin Siddiqui is something that needs to be seen in order to be believed. The rest of the film's characters in the form of Tigmanshu Dhulia, Pankaj Tripathi, Gaurav Dwiwedi and others, offer their support in taking the film to its well deserving climax. A special mention to Deepa Sahi (in a cameo) who does a near-to-being-perfect role of the late leader Indira Gandhi.

Despite the fact that the film does not boast of having any chartbusting music, the music (Sandesh Sandaliya) is very situational and does not look out of place. Even though the film's editing (Pratik Chitalia) could have been a bit tighter, it is the film's cinematography (Rajeev Jain) and the Art department (Nitin Chandrakant Desai) that takes the cake.

On the whole, MANJHI - THE MOUNTAIN MAN is a good film but will appeal mainly to Nawazuddin's fans. However, the film has potential to grow with word of mouth.

August 21, 2015 15:26 IST

Manjhi The Mountain Man carries much promise but it is flimsily executed, feels Sukanya Verma.

There's a wondrous quality to grand gestures, hyperboles holding true and against-all-odds triumph. With so much to be disappointed about and so little inspiration, any shred of truth in extraordinary achievements and impressive individuals infuses hope.

Such magnificent reality carries much promise on celluloid.

At least, director Ketan Mehta seems convinced of its potential considering his past few films revolved around real life figures like Sardar Vallabhai Patel (Sardar), Mangal Pandey (The Rising) and Raja Ravi Varma (Rang Rasiya).

What he doesn't realise is that his enthusiasm for trimmings and affectations, even when the content is sufficiently dramatic on its own, distracts and disengages.

Mehta cannot resist making the same mistakes in his latest biopic Manjhi: The Mountain, a middling effort chronicling the incredible struggle of Dashrath Manjhi (brought to life by a spellbinding Nawazuddin Siddiqui).

The premise is good. Mighty good.

A man of no resources, hailing from Gehlore village in Bihar, resolves to cut through a tall mountain single-handedly for the purpose of creating a path using a modest hammer and chisel. Events leading to this over two-decades long commitment and how it all comes about are recounted in Manjhi, which spans over five decades.

The film travels to and fro in time -- even as our titular hero toils in a gravelly, severe landscape -- through episodes marked by a shifting socio-political climate.

Mehta grabs the opportunity to stuff in every conceivable scenario -- be it the prevalence of child marriage and bonded labour, subjugation of farmers and their wives, rampant casteism carried out by the vile village landlords (Tigmanshu Dhulia, Pankaj Tripathi), Naxilism, the era of Indira Gandhi-declared (Deepa Sahi intentionally/unintentionally parodying the former Indian Prime Minister) emergency or a nasty drought forcing villagers to abandon town.

There's obvious ambition at play here but the random and superficial nature of these incidents never quite explains its influence on Manjhi's mind, method or madness.

Plus, some of it is just so flimsily executed.

The sequence with the Naxalites (led by Prashant Narayanan) starts and ends on a note so abrupt, it's plain comical. A corpse floating in a village pond surrounded by strategically arranged lotuses to create postcard morbidity, how stagy is that? Moreover, muahahaha-ing villains, better suited for a 1980s potboiler, disrupt the enormous believability its leading man is striving for, in his dynamic delivery of a dedicated soul.

He tenderly conveys his ardour for his spunky wife Phaguniya (a lovely Radhika Apte), which is crucial to the challenge he'll eventually grab on.

At the same time, how his hatred for the wretched mountain changes into care and understanding is vague. His transformation from romantic to activist isn't fleshed out at all but the talented actor offers a spiritual know-how entirely based on his active instincts. Under keener direction, an allegory would unravel and enthral. On its own, it's just a possibility unexplored.

Still Manjhi is watchable purely because of this actor's grasp of a willful, persevering personality recognised by his passion not poverty. It's a distinction Nawaz duly delivers, if not the film.

Rediff Rating:

Salman Khan @BeingSalmanKhan