Filmmaker Ketan Mehta chose Nawazuddin Siddiqui to play the lead role in his upcoming biographical drama Manjhi- The Mountain Man for his intense eyes.
Mehta had seen Siddiqui's films and was convinced that the actor was perfect to portray the role. "After I wrote the script, Nawazuddin came to my mind. He is a brilliant actor and he has the correct body type that of Manjhi's. The moment I met him I realised he was the right guy to do the role. I had seen some of his earlier films and I thought 'Here is a special actor'. Even in those small bit roles, he stood out. In 'Kahaani' he had a substantial role and even there he worked hard and was incredible. The intensity in his eyes was unmissable," Mehta told.
The 41-year-old Gangs of Wasseypur actor essays the role of Dashrath Manjhi, a poor labourer hailing from Gehlaur village in Gaya district widely known as the Mountain Man. He had carved a road through the mountain using only hammer and chisel in memory of his wife who passed away without proper medical treatment as travel to the nearest hospital took a lot of time due to the mountain.
The Mangal Pandey director was in disbelief when he first heard the story of Manjhi but wanted to share it after he delved further into it. "First time I heard about Manjhi was in 2007 when he died and there was a lot of media coverage about the man who broke a mountain for love. My first reaction was disbelief, I asked myself, 'How is this possible?' I explored it a little more and I was amazed. When I came down to research and saw the mountain that he had broken down, the path that he had carved, I thought this had to be turned into a film and I should share it with as many people as possible. It was such an inspiring and moving story."