Ketan Mehta loves biopics. Four out of the 12 films he has made in 35 years since he made his debut with Bhavni Bhavai (1980) have been biopics. No wonder then that despite a not so great box office response to his last biopic on Raja Ravi Varma titled Rang Rasiya, Ketan is back with another one – this time on a simpleton Dashrath Manjhi who literally ‘moved’ a mountain.
Q: Your fascination with biopics is never ending. Comment.
Ketan Mehta: Real stories fascinate me more. I am drawn to them. For a biopic you need to research, to keep the authenticity of your story intact you need to be true to facts. It is a challenge and a joy to work on a biopic. Even my actors keep that in mind so that they do justice to the character they are portraying on screen. Having said that, I have also made musicals, thrillers, a folk story, a western classic (Maya Memsaab). With every film I make, a new adventure starts.
Q: Your prior biopics have been on two famous freedom fighters, a famous painter. For the current film, you chose to tell the story of a real life simpleton. What made you choose Dashrath Manjhi as the subject?Ketan: Manjhi: The Mountain Man is a real life story of an ordinary man living an extraordinary life. Dashrath had already lost his wife, his great love because of an obstacle. He didn’t want the villagers to go through the same thing. So just with that thought, he resolved to ‘move’ the mountain ultimately falling in love with it. All he had was passion and a resolve to change things. With just a hammer and chisel, he worked relentlessly to pave way through a mountain for 22 years non-stop. His effort shortened the travel distance between the Atri and Wazirganj blocks of Gaya town from 55 km to 15 km. He made impossible possible. He was a living example of – “Be the change”. So I wanted to share his story with the world.
Q: The film has been made tax free in Bihar before its release. Comment.
Ketan: Yes. That’s good news. Dashrath Manjhi was fromGehlaur village, Gaya district in Bihar. Nawaz is in his village today for promotions. He is a big icon in the region there. When we were researching, we met people from his village, his family and journalists in that area and social scientists based there. We did a lot of research there. Villagers used to call him Baba Dashrath. Since we shot in actual locations, when Nawaz would come out in his get up, they would refer to him as ‘Baba’.
Q: Did you exercise creative liberties while writing his story for the big screen ?
Ketan: We retained the basic spirit and facts of Dashrath Manjhi’s life, from his story. How he communicated or professed love to his wife in personal life, that no one knows about that. So for those things we exercised creative liberty.
Q: Was Nawazuddin’s personal rooted earthiness helpful in choosing him to play the protagonist?
Ketan: Nawaz is one of the best actors of his generation. If you look at Dashrath’s original photo, you will see the resemblance of their eyes. His eyes had the same intensity and madness like you see in Nawaz’s eyes. I am very happy with his performance. I select an actor based on the script after writing the script. A director like me gives two to two and a half years of his life to a story so that is always more sacrosanct to me. I never first choose an actor and then write a story.
Q: The movie has brought back the focus back to Dashrath Manjhi’s extraordinary resolve. Comment.
Ketan:We don’t understand value of common people who do great things in life. When we started promotions of this film, we decided to find a ‘Manjhi’ in every place we went to and felicitate them whether it was in Nagpur, Indore, Bhopal, Ahmedabad or any other town we went to. We looked for a common man/woman who has done some great contribution for people. We found them and felicitated them in front of the media. There should always be focus on such extraordinary tales of simple people.
Q: Is it true you auditioned over a 100 girl before choosing Radhika Apte for this role?
Ketan: Yes. We needed a girl who would inspire her man to move a mountain for her. We wanted someone who could portray the sensibility, passion, intensity as well as sensuality of a village girl. When I saw Radhika’s audition, I saw all of that along with intelligence reflecting in her expressive eyes. She had the earthiness that I wanted for this role. Nawaz and her chemistry in the film is magical.
Q: Manjhi: The Mountain Man is your fourth biopic. Do you intend to make more biopics in future?
Ketan: I want to make a film on the Rani of Jhansi, Laxmibai. She is the most fascinating female character in history. I would like to have Kangana play that role.
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