Manjhi - The Mountain Man

Cast: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Radhika Apte, Pankaj Tripathi(Ruab),Ashraf Ul Haque(Father), Tigmanshu Dhulia(Mukhiya), Gaurav Dwivedi(Journalist) and Deepa Sahi(Indira Gandhi)
Director: Ketan Mehta
Genre: Biography, Drama, Romance



Less of a biography, more of a masala movie




You may look forward to:

• Nawazuddin Siddiqui in the lead, and he cracks it :) He is a complete entertainer and a versatile actor. He knows exactly what a pinch of salt can do to make a difference. Undoubtedly, he is the only one to look out for in the film, from the beginning to the end
• Radhika Apte looks beautiful and sexy. She has good lot of content in the story and keeps appearing throughout the movie
• My personal favorite is the role of Ashraf Ul Haque, who played the father to 'Dashrath'. Skeletal figure with awesome expressions and dialogues
• Pankaj Tripathi and Tigmanshu Dhulia are perfect caricature of corruption and real face of India
• Gaurav Dwivedi is a short but sweet support
• What makes this otherwise long film worth watching is the comedy factor of it, forget that this is a biography and simply enjoy the movie and watch Nawazuddin  deliver his best :)

What you can sleep over:

We also have a surprise element here, a look alike of 'Indira Gandhi' played by Deepa Sahi :D If not a look alike, but very close to the then President of India :) They made a genuine attempt, but you as an audience just cant help laughing at it :D




The dampeners you should be aware of:

• The perception of the movie by its trailer is a lot deceptive. It is by no means an absolute biography. Its a complete entertainer with ample masala in it for a typical Bollywood heroic and/or romantic movies. Every possible tackiness of romance, which is far from believable history. This movie will also remind you of 'My name is Khan- meeting the president', also of 'Mahatma Gandhi', all in a funny way :D
• One essence this movie really lacks is the pain of a relentless 'Dashrath'. You do appreciate his work, but you don't feel the agony and the perseverance of that man who has put 30 years of his life tenaciously into carving a path out of the mountain. You see the passion, but the entire soul of the movie is eaten up by the over dramatized flash backs
• One another loophole being,  the Director shows the readied path by the end of the movie, not tarred yes, but leveled. And leveling a rocky path is never an easy task, looks like the director missed showing how did the village guys managed to level it :D

My Rating: 3/5

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