Manish Jha bows out of the Mountain Man race

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 (2013).”