Manjhi

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   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.
Location: New Delhi, Delhi, India

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