August 23, 2015

Manjhi : The Mountain Man - [ Drama ] - (5/5)

Source: Google Image Search



Manjhi : The Mountain Man - Ain't no mountain high enough

Manjhi - The Mountain Man is a true story about Dashrath Manjhi, a low caste poor labourer who alone carved a path through a mountain using only a hammer and chisel. The movie goes back and forth in times through 1960s and 1970s about a life of Dashrath Manjhi (Nawazuddin Siddiqui), a poor labourer from small village Gehlaur, Bihar which is situated near small town Wazirganj across huge rock mountain hill. The villagers had to either climb across mountain hill or travel around to gain access to Wazirganj town for essentials and basic medical care. 

The movie start showcasing caste disparity in Gehlaur where land owner Mukhiya (Tigmanshu Dhulia) exploits lower caste villagers by making them his lifetime bonded labour. Dashrath refuse to be bonded labour and flees from his village during his teens and he returns back when he is all grown up. As per tradition he got married in his childhood and when returns meet his wife from child marriage Phaguniya (Radhika Apte). He loves Phaguniya passionately and was trying to make his own small world within the village till the time Phaguniya fell down from mountain and dies. Phaguniya's death and his inability to take her to closest medical aid in Wazirganj in time motivates Dashrath to break mountain and carve a path through it. Dashrath is being ridiculed by Villagers and his own father but his determination to see hope and dream to have a road through solid rock mountain hills makes impossible things possible.

The main character of the movie Dashrath is a small guy but has persona of larger than life. At one side it reflects real issues our country faces in villages especially for poors and low caste population and at the same time it shows strong human spirit to overcome such challenges. Ketan Mehta's direction is perfect with amazing cinematography and great dialog writing. The narrative sequence is done well to explain the story. Above all, this movie completely belongs to Nawazuddin Siddiqui with his great performance where he pulled the entire movie on his lone shoulder. He is perfect in each frame and you will be delighted with his performance.

I am giving this movie 5 star for it's attempt to put such a great story and irony of our country when even after 22 years of Dashrath's struggle it took indian government 30 years to build real road there. Its a story about triumph of Indian Spirit and Failure of our political system which is still nearly at same state.



No comments:

Post a Comment