Showing a rare grace and sincerity,
filmmaker Manish Jha has decided to
abandon plans of making his bio-pic on
Dashrath Manjhi, the man who dug a
roadway out of a mountain that
separated his village in Bihar from the nearest hospital.
A few months back, Ketan Mehta
decided to make a film on the Mountain
Man with Nawazuddin Siddiqui in the
lead, precipitating a legal war with
Manish Jha and his producer who claimed
their idea had been stolen by a writer and sold to Ketan Mehta.
But now Manish sees the matter more
rationally. Says Jha, "I think it's
important that Darshrath Manjhi's story
be told. It doesn't matter who tells it. I
guess somewhere I was being egoistic
by insisting on making my own film on the subject even when I heard Ketan
was doing it. I did feel cheated because I
had started work on the subject many
years ago. However, now I see that
every story has its own destiny. If Ketan
was destined to tell Dashrath Manjhi's story, so be it."
Manish says he planned to make Manjhi's
story as a bi-lingual. "I had planned it
with Dhanush. It was going to be in
Hindi and Tamil. We were both very
excited. But then I don't know why the
delay happened. It killed my dream project. I don't blame anyone for it"
Manish blames himself for the story
leaking out. "If in my enthusiasm over
the subject I shared the idea with a
writer who passed it on to another
filmmaker, it is my fault. After all these
years, I am still a stranger to the ways of show-business. In spite of being a
filmmaker for 12 years, I still don't know
how the system works," says Manish
who in a career of 12 years as a
filmmaker has directed only two films
Matrabhoomi and Anwar.
Manish says he spent his time traveling
across India and preparing for the film
on Dashrath Manjhi. "But now I will
direct something else. I am sure Ketan
has done a fine job."
On hearing of Manish Jha's decision to
abandon the Manjhi film, Ketan Mehta
said, "I am thankful and relieved. My film
is looking good and Nawazuddin
Siddiqui has given a stupendous
performance. We complete the film in December."
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