Using only a hammer and a chisel, a man spends twenty-two years
carving a road through a treacherous mountain.
Director:
Ketan Mehta
Writers:
Shahzad Ahmad (research and dialogue),Rajbali
Anjum (script consultant), 5 more credits »
Stars:
Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Radhika
Apte, Ashutosh Acharya | See full cast and crew »
Storyline
Dashrath Manjhi was a poor man from the lowest of the low castes,
living in a remote village cut off from the world by a rocky mountain range.
Life for him was a daily struggle for survival. He loved his wife, Phaguniya,
beyond belief. One day, while climbing the mountain to bring him food, his wife
slipped, fell and died. Overwhelmed by grief, Dashrath decided to carve out a
path through the mountain, so that no one else would suffer his fate. For 22
years, all by himself, with just a hammer and a chisel, he hammered away at the
rocks, till the path was carved out from the mountain. Written
by Ketan Mehta
Reviews
The stage was set, a man against a mountain. The theme itself is a
crowd puller. Obviously the movie will be filled with the emotions a soul must have
underwent while performing the same task for 22 long years; that too against
the acceptance of society. The man must have built a relation with the
mountain, not a hateful one, but a relation of mutual respect; that had given
him the determination, the perseverance. But surprisingly enough, instead of
making this strange relation between a man and a mountain the USP of the movie,
Ketan Mehta has made the movie revolve around the love story of Dasharath and
Faguniya(His wife). Unnecessary cut-ins of their romance within the remarkable
struggle takes the golden patch away from the movie. Nawazuddin Siddiqui,
Radhika apte are all very natural.. Scenes like the first meeting of the lead
pair gives you a fresh air. Overall I would suggest give it a go, not because
the movie is great, but because it's a tribute the mountain man deserves.