India’s ‘Mountain Man’ inspires Bollywood biopic

A new film tells the incredible true story of Dashrath Manjhi, an Indian labourer who spent 23 years cutting a path through a mountain. He did it as a tribute to his wife, who died because she did not receive medical help quickly enough after an accident.

Bollywood actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui in Gaya, Bihar. AFP Photo

The remarkable true story of an Indian man who spent 23 years chiselling a path through a mountain out of love for his late wife is coming to the big screen.

Dashrath Manjhi, an ­impoverished labourer from India’s lowest caste, embarked on the monumental task after his wife died in 1959 following an accident, because she did not ­receive medical attention in time.

Getting to the nearest town involved going around the ­mountain, a 55-kilometre journey, and Manjhi didn’t want other villagers to suffer the same fate.

Working day and night he chipped away at the mountain in Gehlour, in eastern Bihar state, using just a hammer and a chisel, reducing the distance to only 15 kilometres by cutting a direct path through rocks.

It took him until 1982 to finish the path, which is about 110 metres long and, in some places, more than nine ­metres wide.

Manjhi died from cancer of the gall bladder in 2007, aged 73, and was honoured with a state ­funeral in Bihar.

He once said that when he ­started cutting through the mountain, locals thought he was crazy, but later they changed their minds.

Even after he had finished, it took the local government another three decades to convert it into a tarred road. Bollywood star Nawazuddin Siddiqui, whose film credits include The Lunchbox, takes the title role in Manjhi – The Mountain Man. He plays Manjhi from a young man right through to his later years. Indian actress Radhika Apte plays his wife.

“The story is beautiful and compelling. He made the impossible possible and his work has helped thousands,” says Siddiqui.

“The most difficult aspect was to capture the madness. His work is extraordinary. He should be an inspiration and an icon for the youth.”

Bollywood filmmaker Ketan Mehta says his response was one of disbelief when he heard the story, and he knew he had to make a movie about it.

“People called him mad but how did he achieve it single-handedly?” says Metha. “I went there and saw the mountain and the path he had carved. It was inspiring.

"Manjhi – The Mountain Man is a film about the human spirit and a monument to love. Unfortunately, too often we realise the value of a person only after they die."

Raising funds for the production, convincing people to support the film and shooting it in remote parts of India were just a few of the challenges Mehta encountered, he said.

The film also faced controversy. In 2013, filmmaker Dhananjay Kapoor blocked its release, claiming that he had the rights to Manjhi’s story. However, a court dismissed the petition and ruled in favour of Mehta.

Manjhi's fame and the subsequent attention has also left members of his family disgruntled, according to a report in the Times of India newspaper.

It quoted a relative who complained that many officials had visited their home but had broken promises to help them out of poverty.

Mehta pieced his script ­together based on meetings with villagers and journalists, and from reading newspaper ­articles.

However, the director was forced to be a bit more creative when it came to portraying the details of Manjhi’s relationship with his wife.

“The facts are facts but little is known of the love story, which is where we have filled in the blanks,” he says.

• Manjhi - The Mountain Man is due for release in the UAE on September 10