Friday, August 21, 2015

Manjhi: The Mountain Man * * *

Director: Ketan Mehta
My Rating: 3/5

There are some movies which become epics even before they hit the silver screen. They are born legendary. The idea itself is enough. And such was the story of Dashrath Manjhi. We all know about him. A man driven by the grief who stood against a mighty mountain, broke it down to pieces and eventually became the beacon of persistence, determination and strong desire.

When the trailer was aired sometime back, I am sure many like me decided then and there to go for  this one as soon as it hits the screen. This is what happens when an incredibly inspiring true story meets an incredibly talented actor. If it were up to me, I would give him the Oscars just for the little part which we see in the trailer. I mean how freaking amazing can one be! And it turns out that the trailer was merely a minuscule glimpse of the colossal potential that this guy has. It's a one-man show all across. It's him and him alone. Take a bow, Nawazuddin, you are just truly amazing.

Radhika Apte plays her bit with grace. She matches up to his levels when it comes to that. Their chemistry is immense and essential as it is very crucial to the core theme of the story. It is this eternal love that drives Manjhi to do such a gigantic task all by himself. No one can deny the fact that only love has that kind of potential to give you tremendous power to perform miracles. Other supporting roles perfectly complement the set up and the temporal demands of the script.

Talking of the direction, this guy has delivered some good stuff earlier, the likes of Mirch Masala, Mangal Pandey and also interestingly Maya Memsaab! Now, this was apparently a story with great capability, something which would be remembered for a long long time. But he has not fully succeeded in doing that. The non-linear nature of story telling somehow makes the flow of things very absurd. When you are just about to swing along with the pace of things, a small flashback kills the fun although it might happen to have a strategic significance to highlight the underlying emotions that are subsequently surfacing. At many times, you would feel, something bothering you in the flow of things. That is perhaps the only drawback. But not a minor one to completely ignore.

Overall, surely this is a story everyone needs to know. Leaves you convinced that anything is possible if you decide to pursue it with all your dedication. For achieving big things, you need to hold on longer, you need to have that belief and most importantly something driving you from inside, in this case love. It also highlights the destitution which is still widespread in our country and the apathy shown by those who are responsible for such sad state of affairs.

In the end, summing up in Manjhi's words "Shandar, Zabardast, Zindabad". Or maybe approaching to that effect!


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