More woes for Ketan Mehta's Mountain Man

1 Apr 2013

Ketan Mehta's next biopic Mountain Man based on the life of Dashrath Manji starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui seems to have hit the roadblock again. Reportedly, an award winning filmmaker Dhananjay Kapoor who claims to have the rights to make the film filed a petition against Mehta in January this year. Consequently, the Civil Court of Patna has put perpetual injunction on the film by Mr. Ketan Mehta on 16th March, 2013.

Dhananjay Kapoor began researching on the life story of Dashrath Manjhi, who labored rigorously for 22 years and made a road through the Gehlor Mountain, in 2006. Dhananjay who struck an emotional chord with the man says, "I had two elaborate meetings with Manjhi and was also there for his last rites. I was so moved by the man, his philosophy and determination that I decided to make a film on his life." Kapoor consequently took permission from Manjhi in July 2007 to make a biopic on the life of a man "Manjhi was a follower of Kabir and would often recite his couplets. He wanted to remove the caste divide," reveals Kapoor.

Dhananjay informs that he learnt about Ketan Mehta's film through one of the residents of the village of Dashrath Manjhi in October 2012. As soon as I found out I sent a legal notice to Ketan's team. In January 2013, when it again came to his knowledge that the production and shooting of the film on Dashrath Manjhi has not been stopped by Mr. Ketan Mehta, he resorted to the court. Hence the court has directed Mehta and his filmmaking company to not exhibit the film on Dashrath Manjhi till the pendency of the suit.

The producer Jamshaid Ashraf says, "The biopic on Dashrath Manjhi will depict his life story just the way this courageous, determined and benevolent man wanted it to be and the film on his life will give the same message to the people that this great soul described and told to Dhananjay."

Dhananjay is planning to do a trilogy on the theme that he succinctly puts as "courageous and philanthropic herculean effort of a common man". Divulging more he says, "The second movie is based on the life of Kamleshwari Singh who is also known as 'talaabi baba' who dug a pond in about 8 years on a piece of his land for the welfare of his fellow villagers in Manikpur village of Bihar. I have taken the legal consent for this story to make into a feature film." Kapoor is now looking for the 3rd story to complete his trilogy on this theme.

Ketan Mehta didn't revert to our texts.