Skip to main content

Manjhi

   Aug 14, 2015
    11:00 PM

   Shandaar. Jabarjast. Jindabaad.

   While everyone’s Facebook and WhatsApp updates flooded the Internet and everyone got their profile and cover pics turned into shades of Saffron, White and Green, I was busy watching this wonderful movie – Manjhi, The Mountain Man – on my laptop. Yeah, yeah, it’s not released yet, but some guys get lucky on Torrent. I know piracy is illegal, but so is watching porn. Haha. Bad luck for the movie-makers, though. But I don’t share their gloom. Actually, I’m not even a little bit sorry. Watching a movie a week before its official release is a treat, whatsoever.
   
   Being from Bihar, I’ve been to Gaya once or twice. And I grew up listening to my parents’ taunts – pahad tod rahe the kya (You were busy breaking some mountain, or what?) – whenever I didn’t finish my homework on time. I did have some knowledge about some man who cut a path through a path all by himself. But, seeing the movie now brings the whole picture. It felt good to see a movie in which the characters spoke in the same manner as our folks do, similar dialects. It’s hard time people across the country realized the fact – Not all people of Bihar speak Bhojpuri, as they have brought themselves to believe.

   Thank you Bollywood for not adding any item song; it usually has no connection with the movie but somehow promotes it. That would have been an injustice to the man resting in peace. Acting of Nawazuddin Siddiqui was top notch as usual. And Radhika Apte did well too.

   This movie would not be considered a love story. You know why? Because in the movie, the hero wasn’t flaunting his abs or dancing to the beat. Nor was there a bearded villain, laughing with his minions. There was no heroine to save since she was already gone. Nevertheless, the hero crossed paths with the main antagonist, a still, standing tall, rock hard one: the mountain, laughing at the tiny man before him and his stupid resolve. All this man had was a hammer and a chisel. But that didn’t deter him. Fueled with love for his deceased wife he went on to do something which made people question his sanity. There are love stories and there are stories about love. This was certainly the latter. An ordinary man’s love for another ordinary woman cleaved the mountain in two. If that’s not the definition of true love, I don’t know what is.

   The world has stones at hand to hurl at those who first introduce the subject. And it has flowers to throw on those who come afterward.

   The same happened to The Mountain Man. Being called a Mad Man only toughened his resolve. And after 22 years of hard work, when he finally did what was considered impossible by a man, people had no choice but to appreciate him.

   That man, what was he made up of? Such a strong willed person. Going to such lengths and undergoing so much pain, and not even for a reward. Maybe solace was his reward. Like he owed all of it to his wife, who he loved so dearly.

   Last year, Amir Khan did an episode on Satyamev Jayate, dedicated to him. This only sounds good. It actually isn’t; a touching and inspiring story, a perfect TV material, good TRP as a result of sympathy from people and ultimately a good business. I doubt that the family of the deceased got even a single penny out of the earnings of the show. Because that would have been a real deal and would have done more good than all those long talks. Let’s see if the movie producers turn out differently.

   People like Dashrath Manjhi come once in a lifetime, the kind who do what they got to do; as Nawazuddin Siddiqui sums it up in his last line:

   Bhagwaan ke bharose mat baithiye, kya pata Bhagwaan hamare bharose baithe ho.

   (Don’t just sit, counting on God. Who knows, maybe God is counting on us.)



   Happy Independence Day, everyone.
Labels:
Location: New Delhi, Delhi, India

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

LIFE AND LIES #77 | The English Teacher

When we are young, the world is full of possibilities. We can do anything, and become anything. We antagonise anyone who even hints at thinking otherwise about us. It's probably why most of us have a story to tell where the villain was a school teacher. Even I do. I don’t remember exactly how I ended up in the Headmaster’s cabin that day. All I remember is that back then I blamed my House Master for it. It wasn’t just me who had bunked the STD XII Pre-Board exams. There were many. But he made a scapegoat out of me. And the moment, I set foot inside the cabin, I received a big slap from the Headmaster. My ears rang. But that wasn’t the worst thing that happened that day. The Headmaster instructed him to call my father. Tell him to come or his son would be rusticated. I wasn’t a notorious student. I was good in my studies and had no disciplinary complaints against me. Had this incident not occurred, I would have completed my schooling in a few months with a clean record. My fat...
5 comments
Read more

Whispers and Words #1

*** Finding solace In an air-conditioned space, The city slept While I wandered the streets, Restless, Perfecting the ending Of a sentence. The cool breeze made me forget That it was a summer night. Then, out of nowhere, A cold whisper Sent a shiver down my spine. "You have to choose, my friend. Be a writer or be content." "Why can't I be both?" I asked the emptiness. And the whisper scoffed at me, "You and your consistent pursuit To get the best of both worlds. Buckle up then! You are about to be tested." I stumbled over a rock And found the ending I was looking for. "If a river wants to meet the sea, Twisting and turning, It will somehow find its way Even through the mountains." If a whisper could smile, It did, and said, "We will see." *** I don't have a million readers - not by choice, obviously - just a handful. But they mean to me as much as the millions would do. And one of those readers reminded me that I had taken a lon...
1 comment
Read more

LIFE AND LIES #57 | Neil Nitin Mukesh (#2)

"Krishna is a married man but he's always revered along with Radha, his lover. What if... say Rukmani, said to Krishna one day, that she'd rather be Radha?"  Nitin uttered his thought out loud then looked around the room. While the others had stopped long back, Neil was pouring himself another drink. Only he could drink so much on a Sunday night, because unlike the others, his Monday had been declared a Bank holiday. It was Mukesh who was sober enough to reply to his question. "Radha spent her years in sadness longing for Krishna. Rukmani would not want to be in her place." "What if...'' smiled Nitin. He always placed the actual question he wanted to ask as the second question. "One day, after reading my work, my wife says to me that she'd rather be one of the women I write about so passionately." "The women you choose to write about are also inherently sad," Mukesh was quick with a reply. "Ask your wife then, would ...
Post a Comment
Read more