Manjhi: O Homem da Montanha

This is a tale probably since its origin - BOLLYWOOD fails to give the necessary depth, breadth and focus to/on a topic. Whether it is the nation's heroes from Bajirao to Manjhi or it is a war epic, the focus is always on exaggerated display of love and other emotions and the facts are conveniently missed(since it requires more efforts and will). Some points to elaborate :

1. Not a single minute was dedicated to how Manjhi broke the rocks and carved the mountain. Well, he spent nights thinking about the strategy. He used to collect weeds, grass etc., create fire on the rocks wherever possible and suddenly cool them to develop cracks so that they would crumble. The other 5-6 huge rocks he took 1 month each to develop cracks. No effort was made to show these aspects

2. A torture of inept songs and Manjhi's bereaved love ! Just listen to his interviews and one would realize that his wife's death was just a trigger for his journey and the movie shows as if he is doing it only for his love - what a degenerated depiction of a man who had a much deeper and wider understanding of the social and practical problems plaguing the village

3. Manjhi attempted to build a bridge on a nearby river(not shown in the film), walked to Delhi for raising funds(!). He always thought that the whole state needs help and openly said that, yet, the film focuses on his work as a madman, well a madman always has a vision, a plan and a dream. The film comes out short on projecting this

The only savior for the films are its cast's efforts and few facts and dialogues.

Ketan Mehta first messed up Mangal Pandey and now Dashrath Manjhi. Bollywood should needs to seriously alter its approach towards non- fictional works, else, they end up in reducing heroes to some fairy tale stories, rather than concrete examples of success...

probably this dialogue from this movie is enough to describe this masterpiece. Based on the life story of Dasharath Manjhi who was from Bihar,India, cut down a full mountain by his own. U want to know why? Go n watch this master piece Nawazuddin Siddiqui gave his lifetime performance in this movie. though his each n every performance is just awesome but still I have to say that this one is way above other performance We all know that Ketan Mehta is an awesome director & he did justice to his name. Gave another master piece to Bollywood. Music is the below average. Another fault in this movie is slow 1st half. Editing was not so good. run time should have been reduced by 15 Mins or so. Don't miss

Expect no grandeur and very un-Bollywood-like. The plot of the movie unfolds quite slowly like a classic movie should be, building up gradually in the first half and then you are so engrossed into the movie, that you hardly realize how quickly the second half passed by. Nawazuddin Siddiqui could have been the only actor at of today who could do justice to this role. Ketan Mehta has made sure that the real touch in this movie sticks as close to the actual incidences and he has succeeded thoroughly. Many filmmakers attempt to use or portray the themes from this part of India (like Amir Khan's PK or Salman Khan's Dabang). One can easily find that genuineness of Bihari culture is so hollow that it brings down the impact of the movie, rather than uplift it. The way all the actors have delivered their dialogues or put on their costumes is phenomenal. Siddiqui's performance is a stand-out and without doubt, it'll a benchmark in Bollywood, IMHO. Craziness of Manjhi is a legacy for Indians and Siddiquit has succeeded in bringing that out on the silver screen.

Biopics are gaining popularity in Indian Cinema as it tells the true incident of a person or event portrayed on the silver screen. With Dirty Picture, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag and now Manjhi-The Mountain Man following the trend, it is thoroughly inspiring and motivating. True to its hype, Manjhi-The Mountain Man lives up to the reputation and gives you hard-hitting drama with realistic views on life.

Manjhi – The Mountain Man is a true story of guts and glory of Dashrath Manjhi who took 22 years to break a mountain to carve a road for his village – Gehlor in Gaya district of Bihar, India.

It takes nerve of steel to make biography of not-so-famous personality who took 22 years of his life to break a mountain. After failure of Rang Rasiya, legendary film maker Ketan Mehta is back with a bang. The director who gave us some great films like Mirch Masala and Mangal Pandey takes a dig into another true story of a forgotten hero and we are not complaining at all. The movie begins with Manjhi loosing his wife as he blames the gigantic mountain for her death. The movie goes into a flashback mode showing his transformation from an innocent kid to a trouble-maker youth. Chance to meet his girlfriend changes him completely.

Couple of scenes will steal the thunder – The chemistry between Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Radhika Apte, the transformation from loyal husband to obsessed old man and the well-executed climax scene. Hats off to Ketan Mehta and team ( Shahzad Ahmad for doing research and dialogue and Rajbali Anjum for the script) for standing out in the crowd. Screenplay loses the focus and too much of flashback will confuse you but the hiccups are only short-lived. Editing by Pratik Chitalia is good. Art direction by Nitin Chandrakant Desai is mind- blowing. Cinematography by Rajeev Jain is eye-catching. Nawazuddin Siddiqui is magnificent. He is probably one of the few actors who goes deep-diving into the any character with aplomb. Certainly an award wining performance from him. Radhika Apte is getting better with each. She emotes expressively. Rest of the star cast do justice to their role

Manjhi – The Mountain Man has cult status written all over it. It is definitely worth watching thanks to the stupendous performances by Nawazuddin Siddiqui, superb direction and astounding background score. Excellent 4.5/5

– Ketan Gupta

The guy has done a great job in portraying a character no other actor (or I should rather say, STAR) in the industry could ever have done. Him an Radhika Apte are becoming my favorite actors the more I see of them.

Navazuddin brings Dashrath back to life, and what a life I must say. Thoroughly inspiring... Never have I seen such characterization and casting in any movies of recent times. Hats off to the direction and cinematographer for such a wonderful job they have done. 10 out of 10. What more could I say? Go watch it yourself..

PS: You would love every inch of the Mountain and every act of the Man.