Wednesday, October 14, 2015 10:06 IST
Nawazuddin Siddiqui's Manjhi - The Mountain Man, a biographical movie, is a big hit in Gehlaur, the village where the protagonist of the movie Dashrath Manjhi carved a path through a mountain after 22 year long hard work.
Almost everyone in Gehlaur has watched the movie and given a thumbs up to Nawazuddin who, the villagers said, is true to the struggle of Manjhi.
Laxminia Devi, the daughter of Manjhi, who watched the movie at a hall in Gaya, said: "It seemed like my father is alive and he is still breaking the mountain. I cried and also laughed watching the movie." Including Laxminia, six members of Dashrath Manjhi family got free tickets for the movie by the director of the movie, Ketan Mehta, the day it was released. A local man on behalf of the director took them in a car to Gaya to watch the movie.
14-year old Rajkumar Manjhi, great grandson of Dashrath, has watched the movie twice on his father's mobile. "I had only heard his story. I did not see him breaking the mountain," Rajkumar, born after the mountain was already broken, said.
A poor village in Gaya with a sizeable population of Mushars, Gehlaur has recently got electricity but power supply is erratic. Not many families own TVs and CD players so they can not watch the movie on the TV, said Bhagirath Manjhi, son of Dashrath.
The lack of infrastructure has however not stopped people from watching the movie. "They go to Gehlaur bazaar and get the movie uploaded in the phone for Rs 10 (for each phone). It is difficult to watch the more than two-hour long movie on small phones but we have no other option," said Binda Manjhi, son of Bagirath.
At Gehlaur bazaar Sonu Yadav, who runs a mobile recharge shop, said the young boys own cheap Chinese mobile phones. "Many people in Gehlaur have got the movie uploaded in the phones," he said.