When I feel inspired to tell a story, I make a movie - Ketan Mehta

Acclaimed director Ketan Mehta, best known for Mangal Pandey-The Uprising, is returning back to the 70mm after a rather long sabbatical. Ketan, who has a penchant for portraying real life stories on the big screen, has just finished filming Manjhi-The Mountain Man, which he feels is an ode to India’s greatest yet untold love story. Tellchakkar.com caught up with the two-time National Award winning director for an exclusive chat to know more about his latest directorial venture. Your filmography is replete with movies that showcase real-life stories. Manjhi- The Mountain Man is no different. Tell us what attracted you to this story? I was amazed by the story of this man; Dashrath Manjhi who toiled for 22 years to carve out a mountain all by himself, with just a hammer and a chisel in his hands. And he did this for his wife who unfortunately died after slipping off from that very mountain which he broke. What blew me away was that this man with no power, zilch money could carve out a mountain with his bare hands for his wife. In today’s cynical times, it sounds like a ray of hope. So it was an instant reaction that it should be made into a film. What kind of research did you undertake to build the plot for the movie? We did some humongous research which included talking to Dashrath’s villagers, watching documentaries made on him, visiting the mountain and even shooting in them so that the movie is close to Dashrath’s real life. You have Nawazuddin Siddiqui playing the lead role. Was he your first choice? Well, choosing an actor for this movie was a process. As the script was evolving, I was looking for the right actor to play the role of Dashrath Manjhi. Yes, various actors were looked at. In the mean time, I had seen Nawazuddin in Peepli Live and Kahaani and this actor was a striking new possibility that was emerging. I called him up and discussed the project. He instantly found the role challenging and accepted it. Nawaz has given his heart and soul to the film. You have worked with both Aamir (Mangal Pandey) and Shah Rukh Khan (Maya Memsaab) earlier. Didn’t you at any point think of approaching either of them for the movie? (Pauses) No. To play the character of Manjhi, I needed a very earthy and feet on the ground kind of actor. So in that sense, Nawaz was the ideal choice. The film is based on a true story. So the moment you glamourise it with mainstream commercial stars, it loses its main power. So, how much of a Bollywood movie is Manjhi-The Mountain Man? Firstly, I have serious problems with the word ‘Bollywood’. It promotes three dicey connotations. One, it is a poor imitation of Hollywood. Second, Hindi cinema is not Bollywood, it is Indian cinema and third, the notion that song and dance routine is the core of Indian cinema is also wrong. If you see, Indian cinema today is flowering into a variety of cinema. Large number of young filmmakers are experimenting, taking risks and trying to reach to an audience globally and all these are positive signals. Does that mean your movie has no song and dance sequences in it? Well, yes. I don’t have the clichéd song and dance routine. I have songs which are important to the context. Music is integral to Indian life. So yes, there are songs but they are not choreographed per se. Your film was also mired in a legal controversy… (cuts in) See, let me tell you. When you have a life story that is so inspiring, there would be about half a dozen filmmakers queuing up to make a film. But if there can be a dozen films on Gandhi, five films on Bhagat Singh, and ‘n’ number of films of Subhash Chandra Bose, why not on Dashrath Manjhi? And that’s what the court also said. There is so much information available on this man in the public domain that anyone can make a film on it. You have shot the movie in real locations in Bihar. How tough was it to shoot in the mountains? Very tough. This place is actually a remote Naxal-affected village in Bihar. A barren land with no amenities at all. We were staying at Bodh Gaya which was an hour and half away from the location. We used to wake up at 3.30 in the morning to reach the location on time and then start climbing the mountain with the entire unit and the equipments. This was not a glamorized snow- capped Himalayan mountain. This is a rocky barren mountain. One of the toughest but most fulfilling shoots in my career, till date. You are coming back after a long break. Why don’t we see you make more movies? For me filmmaking is not just a business like it may be for others. When I am making a movie, I am giving a chunk of my life for the movie. And to make a film, you need to be inspired. And when I feel inspired to tell a story, I make a movie.