Manjhi – The Mountain Man Review – Manjhi – The Mountain Man is a Hindi biopic released in 2015. The movie is based on the life of Dasarath Manjhi the man who carved a path through a mountain using only a hammer and chisel.
Director Ketan Mehta has taken an inspiring story of a man who did something, which anyone would have written off, as impossible. The movie is a blend of commercial cinema and art house cinema. Most of the scenes are very realistic in nature.
Although a very inspirational story it has challenges when it is told as a full-length feature film. The makers have tried their best to use nonlinear narration to keep it interesting. I would say it has worked in parts. Can’t complain too much as the story only had so much to offer. A reduction of 20 minutes of the movie could have made it very impactful.
NFDC has jointly produced this movie with Viacom 18. It is good to see NFDC active in mainstream movies as well. Hope this trend continues. Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s performance is a stand out in the movie. He has helped recreating the type of person Manjhi might have been on the silver screen. Radhika Apte is another major strength for this movie. She had portrayed the character so well and is very convincing that someone has gone so far for the love of her.
The movie also has some strong political statements. I was not able to verify the authenticity of the subtle references. Nevertheless it was some of the best portions in the movie.
High Points: Inspiring Biopic, No unwanted commercial frills, Nawazuddin and Radhika’s performance, realistic visuals
Low Points: Not much in the story for a full-length feature
Overall Manjhi – The Mountain Man is an inspiring biopic that you would not want to miss. If you were interested in Biopics and realistic movies you would enjoy this.
Watchable
Ad you have pointed put probably going for shorter length in such films makes a better impact.
As you have pointed out probably going for shorter length in such films makes a better impact.
Yes… Overall shorter length movies have done well this year compared to long movies… There needs to be a change in trend…
Well nice theme of the movie, looks like it could have been made more interesting, as the idea seems bigger than the movie, the instance of a man breaking mountain for wife… do you know a short documentary was made for women… women whestled the men after learning self defense… and in that movie which was free for everyone to access in youtube, one thinks and feels sad, has it come to that finally that women can’t be protected and understood by men that they have to resort to this… but in the end they won a lot in the battle(:… well short movies create impact… have you seen Karate Kid, they really are entertaining but wisdom filled movies(:…
Andapo, I believe you are referring to the short film directed by Anurag Kashyap http://www.rajareviews.com/2013/11/that-day-after-everyday/. It definitely had a strong take on gender bias :). I have watched Karate Kid, the new one with Jackie Chan in it… It was a very good movie and inspiring. I will watch the old one when I get a chance… Keeping sharing your insightful comments 🙂
yes, you have written a reveiw on that(:…wonderful… yes karate kid and kunfu panda are quite connecting with the china stuff… its pretty good