Movie Review: 'Manjhi The Mountain Man'

Love can move mountains. Love can also break them if need be.

A strong-willed, freedom-loving Bihari, Dashrath Manjhi (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) falls for a girl named Falguni, aka Phagunia, (Radhika Apte) having come home after seven years since he escaped being a slave to a landlord. When he discovers the attractive lady he is after is no one else but his childhood bride, he goes all out to pursue her and manages to run her away from her objecting family on an axe point. Both seem to be deeply in love which gives them two children. While fighting against the caste discriminations and feudal oppressions, a mountain-borne misfortune comes upon his wife during her second pregnancy. She passes away gifting her husband with a daughter he had so sweetly requested her for. Now Manjhi is all heartbroken and torn to pieces as he struggles to accept her death. Visibly stoic, he then pulls himself together and heads to tear the mountain down.

The character Manjhi is yet another lovely feather in Nawazuddin’s mutli-coloured acting cap. His diminutive frame on screen resembles a mammoth acting institute for those muscle-flexing and mirror-staring dudes wanting to be or calling themselves actors. Radhika shines through as a dusky, charming muse to Manjhi’s herculean feat. Other actors do their bits well however at times inconsequential or uncalled for. While crafting the backdrop for the story, many atrocities shown send a chill down your spine and are sure to unnerve a human being. Many aspects of that era are forced to fit together in the movie – police abuse, corruption, draught, Naxalism - which was a bit too much for the topic chosen.

In the end you might sense that the movie is given only a little better treatment by the director than what is given to Manjhi’s endeavour in the movie by his fellow villagers. Instead of allowing us to leave the theatre hall with a positive force after witnessing the indomitable willpower of a man, Ketan Mehta makes us settle with sympathy for our Mountain Man. This goes to show that a film can lose its desired punch if the subtle elements of film-making are not blended well with good story, good intention, and even with good actors. However, it is a good watch even though you are right when you feel like knowing the story having seen its trailer.

Side note:

Whenever a movie title ends with a Man, mostly it brags about its portrayal of a super hero. Manjhi The Mountain Man from India joins the global pattern – and mind you, he is not a fictional character.  The irony is – he never wanted that goddamned title of a Mountain Man while siding more than 2 decades of his life to continue to chip off the mountain piece by piece only to make lives easier for villagers. The story brings to light the pathetic state of Indian system of governance, which I doubt has changed much since then.