‘Manjhi-The Mountain Man’ is not for soft-hearted people. It’s rough, and at the same time, delicate.
It’s an inspiring saga of grit, determination and stamina of person who has, not just rock-solid but ‘mountain-solid’ determination.
Set in an underserved village of ultra-rural Bihar, Manjhi’s heartening tale treads through the tough times India faced in the post-independence era. The disturbing realities faced by commoners were umpteen – the abolishment of untouchability in ’50s hardly had a change in the mind-set of people, the oppression of the poor by the zamindaars followed by the onset of Naxalism in the late ’60s, then to grand elocutions of ‘garibi hatayo’ by Indira Gandhi in the ‘70s, government grants gulped without a trace by the middlemen and finally to the supressing times of Emergency.
There is not much unknown in the story of Manjhi-The Mountain Man. Dashrath Manjhi (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) belongs to maha-dalit community, is a young lad who lives in the village of Wazirpur that has rocky mountain ranges around it. A ‘happy go lucky’ person, he finds a meaning to his life when he meets his bride from child-marriage, Phaguniya (Radhika Apte). Theirs is a love-at-first-sight story – depicted endearingly in Manjhi – where her father wants a higher marriage-settlement amount before he lets Dashrath have her.
They run away to live a happy married life until she dies off because of almost out-of-reach medical-aid – a mountain range stands between the village and the primary health centre. The travel time around the ridge is an onerously protracted one.
With his inspiration gone, Manjhi has his task cut-out: He wants to take a revenge on no other than the mountain itself so that no one suffers the same ill-fate as he did.
Hereafter it’s Dashrath’s determination, his supporters (hardly any) and his detractors, the hardship he faces, his soliloquy – first hatred, then love – with the mountain and the fond remembrances of his wife that keep him motivated in the task taken up him.
The intriguing aspect of the movie Manjhi is the fact that it attends to its central thread without wasting much time on usual nuances of married life of Dashrath and Phaguniya. Their moments of joy are largely visited as per remembrances of Dashrath, and hence, it keeps the interest alive in spite of the fact that you know that Dashrath, unmistakably, will succeed splitting the mountain into two.
His pain, limited knowledge of worldly affairs and frustrations vented out at the mountain are palpable. His determination is portrayed gallantly.
At a stage, in times of Emergency sprung by protests everywhere, Dashrath walks for over a thousand kilometres –TT threw him out for a ticket-less travel – and reaches Rajpath, along with a handful supporters – they joined him on the way – to meet the Prime Minister of the country. Police lathi-charges but Dashrath steps aside to check the whereabouts of the country’s Prime Minister. His purpose: some money allocated to him for making a road through the mountain hasn’t reached him. Belittled by a regular cop, he is back to the place which he loves the most – the mountain – to resume his cutting work.
Manjhi’s grit and will-power has to overpower the hardest, abundant creation of nature: a rocky mountain. He has no support either.
Had the Dashrath Manjhi been alive today, he would have embraced Nawazuddi Siddiqui for portraying the role of “Manjhi-The Mountain Man”. Till the time, Dashrath is clean-shaven, you see Nawazuddin Siddiqui on the screen. The time his beard develops, they blend into one: Dashrath Manjhi.
Dashrath Manjhi’s character depiction is pleasantly detailed. It’s interesting to see how an illiterate man, who has little worldly sense, can still maintain focus and practise strong values. He doesn’t fear anyone and never gives-up on anything without giving an earnest try. Things don’t hold him up for long either.
Chiselling a mammoth ridge with an iron-rod and a hammer is an incredible task, but that’s not it. Dashrath scrapes scathe-free from the challenges the system, the society, the harsh weather and his body poses to him.
Alas, unlike Dashrath Manjhi’s inspirational life, the movie Manjhi has a number of flaws, and it does fall short of landing in the bracket of Iqbal or Chak De India or Pan Singh Tomar.
The frequent back and forth switching of time only exacerbates the overall comprehension of the chronology. Why Manjhi doesn’t relocate from his home-town when he had already witnessed joys of a life elsewhere, how does he fend for himself, how his body never gives up, how he never pays attention to the tool-kit he uses, remain either unattended to or the presented reasons appear unconvincing.
Somewhere in between, Manjhi is reminiscent of Cast Away and you would feel bad about what Manjhi missed out on. The conspicuously missing aspect amongst these unanswered questions stemming from common-sense, is: At no stage, the camera tells you how far Dashrath has succeeded in his endeavour or for that matter, what portion of the work still remains?
He mustn’t be just madly hammering the mountain without at least a vague direction in which he has to chisel.
This is the only missing aspect of the otherwise outstanding, camerawork Manjhi presents you with. The ariel views of Manjhi at work are mesmerizing.
The background score and the songs only complement the mood of the narrative and keeps your attention intact.
These flaws are aptly covered largely by innocent situational humour and invigorating performance by Nawazuddin Siddiqui and the charming Radhika Apte. She settles with comfortable ease in the role of Phagunia, a housewife in a deprived village set-up. Her dialogue delivery is spontaneous.
Ashraf Ul Haque’s role, as father of Manjhi, is a paradox: It’s both brutal and comic.
For the old-time fans of Deepa Sahi, who also is the producer of movie, she features in a beautifully done cameo.
Manjhi is about the people who fall back on nothing but their efforts because they know there is little to expect from an inept, corrupt and uncaring system out there.
Nawazuddin Siddiqui, oops Dashrath Manjhi, is an inspiration for anyone with whatever challenge they are facing in life.
It’s a 3 out of 5, but I would say that watch it for on-screen resurrection of Dashrath Manjhi by Nawazuddi Siddiqui.
Randomly Here and There 
very good review; the story and picture seem inspiring to millions of Indians