Actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui said he had to take various steps for one and a half months to detach from the character he plays in director Ketan Mehta's "Manjhi - The Mountain Man".

"I had to apply a lot of practices on myself for one and a half months in my quest of trying to come out of myself. I set off to Jaisalmer and would vanish for 8-10 days. I went to places where people didn't know me, just to get a reality check, to feel like a normal person," Nawazuddin told the media at the trailer launch in Mumbai on Monday.

The movie, based on the life of Dashrath Manjhi who worked tirelessly for 22 years to break open a mountain to build a road in Bihar, will release on August 21.

The film, which stars Radhika Apte opposite Nawazuddin, has music by Sandesh Shandilya.