The two weeks have seen the release of two biopics. Both talked about a long struggle that the protagonist had to undergo in order to achieve what the world thought was impossible. In both the tales, the family members of the protagonists advised them to quit but they remained adamant. Thankfully, both these films – last week’s Gour Hari Dastaan and this week’s Manjhi – The Mountain Man – are fine pieces of cinema and boast of excellent performances. But despite the great work by actors and a brilliant storyline, Manjhi – The Mountain Man doesn’t reach to the level of Gour Hari Dastaan.
The story of the movie: The story begins in 1950s. Dashrath Manjhi(Nawazuddin Siddiqui), is a resident of Gehlaur, Bihar. The village is cut off from the world in a way thanks to a huge mountain. The nearest town is Wazirganj which is just a few kms away. But thanks to the mountain, the villagers have to spend a lot of time either climbing or going around the mountain to reach Wazirganj. One day, Dashrath’s wife Phaguniya Devi(Radhika Apte), while trying to climb the mountain, falls and gets injured. By the time Dashrath takes her to hospital, she passes away. An angry Dashrath decides to break the mountain all by himself. He begins his mission in 1960 and it takes him close to 22 years to achieve his goal.
Manjhi – The Mountain Man has some scenes that are outstanding. But there are portions of the film which are ordinary or suffer from an average execution. The humour falls flat in the sequence where Manjhi sees Phaguniya for the first time. Their romance on the whole is impressive though. The scene where they get drenched in mud doesn’t make one squirm in their seats. Instead, it is damn good and sensual as well. There’s a subplot in the film – of the evil mukhiya – and it doesn’t really contribute much to the overall story and the episode doesn’t even get concluded in the finale and is left mid-way. But one can’t deny that it has its moments. Also, the ‘Chalo Dilli’ sequence ends as a damb squib but it makes for a great watch for sure. The film actually comes to life in all its glory in the second half as Manjhi slowly achieves success. The film does wander at places in this hour as well. The climax, as expected, is exhilarating and the supers in the end are worth reading.
The performances take the film to a different level. Nawazuddin Siddiqui has given many memorable performances over his career but what he managed to achieve in Manjhi – The Mountain Man is something else. In fact, it can be said that it’s his finest performance till date. The physical transformation is obviously there but look at the way he reacts, his body language and the tension on his face especially in the drought scenes - It is spectacular! And he looks damn adorable in the romantic portions with Radhika. Radhika Apte looks immensely beautiful. The way she presents Phaguniya – it looks absolutely convincing that Dashrath went mad over her and even decided to break the mountain for her! A brilliant performance from a brilliant performer! Gaurav Dwivedi(Alok Jha, the journalist) has his moments. Tigmanshu Dhulia(landlord) is fine but heavily reminds one of his act in Gangs Of Wasseypur. Pankaj Tripathi(landlord’ son) has a far better role and gives a great performance. Late Ashraf Ul Haque(Magru Manjhi) is fine but after a point, his dialogues and scene became repetitive. Varadraj Swami(Phaguniya’s father; also the writer) is decent. Deepa Sahi(Indira Gandhi) rocks in her cameo appearance. Prashant Narayanan makes a mark in the second half.
Sandesh Shandilya’s music is mostly relegated to the background and is fine. Even otherwise the background score is good and enhances impact at few places. The best song of the lot is Phaguniya. Rajeev Jain’s cinematography is very good. Same goes for Nitin Desai’s production design. Some scenes are obviously shot in sets but it doesn’t seem like even once. Great detailing! Vardraj Swami and Shahzad Ahmad’s dialogue and research is terrific. Especially the dialogues – damn good and clapworthy! Ketan Mehta and Mahendar Jakhar’s screenplay is more or less great but could have been tighter and shorter. Ketan Mehta’s direction is fair on the whole. He really creates a tremendous impact in some scenes and extracts fine performances from the actors. But he has the ability to do even better. Where’s that Ketan Mehta who gave us gripping films like Mirch Masala? Manjhi – The Mountain Man could have reached that level but that doesn’t happen as the direction is disjointed in some scenes. A fine effort nevertheless but hope he gets back to his former rocking avatar in his next film!
Some of the best scenes:
All scenes of Manjhi and Phaguniya
Manjhi meets the mukhiya after many years
Manjhi’s friend dies in a freak accident
Mukhiya’s son kidnaps a villager
All scenes of Manjhi and Alok Jha
Manjhi goes to Delhi
Manjhi in jail
The climax
On the whole, Manjhi – The Mountain Man is an inspiring true story of a man who took up a ‘Mission: Impossible’ and achieved success after a long struggle. Nawazuddin Siddiqui delivers arguably the finest performance of his career. A performance that would be remembered for years! The film is engaging for most parts but at some places, it drags and wanders somewhere else which could have been avoided. It prevents the film from becoming a classic. But nevertheless, it’s a must watch and here’s hoping that it achieves commercial success as well!
My rating - 3.5/5