Manjhi – The Mountain Man: How Nawazuddin Siddiqui prepared to play Dashrath Manjhi
Like the acclaimed film Manjhi – The Mountain Man turns 9 years old, we review our conversation with the protagonist Nawazuddin Siddiqui since the film’s release. During the chat, Nawaz delved into his transformative experience preparing for the role of Dashrath ManjhiThe actor shared how he completely immersed himself in the life of the legendary figure, even isolating himself from the outside world to authentically portray Manjhi’s determination and resilience.
Below are excerpts from the interview:
How did you approach the role of this ordinary and extraordinary man?
Although there were images of Manjhi as an older man, aged 70, there were no images of what he looked like when he was young. I had to interpret him from descriptions given to me by villagers who had personally known Manjhi to recreate the younger part of his life.
And the recreation of the character was so amazing that the locals of Gaya started addressing you as Darshrath Manjhi.
For a whole month, I completely isolated myself, to the point of not even speaking to my wife. My phone was switched off. I had no connection to the outside world from the location where I was shooting with Ketan Mehta in Gaya. Concentration was necessary to revive the character faithfully. I did not want my character to look like a caricature of the original.
Dashrath Manjhi’s original family and fellow villagers adopted you as a newborn avatar of the deceased hero who spent 22 years of his life digging a path through the mountain that separated his village from the nearest town.
I actually dug into a mountain to show Manjhi his life’s mission. No photography tricks were used to show me digging into the mountain. However, director Ketan Mehta used sophisticated special effects to show how the mountain gradually transformed into a road.
Did the people of Gaya give you a tearful farewell when you finished filming?
I have never experienced such a strong emotional connection with any of my characters or their surroundings. For a month, I lived, ate, walked, talked and behaved like Dashrath Manjhi. It will take me a while to get out of this character.
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