Stay on Ketan Mehta’s 'Mountain Man' lifted

Ketan Mehta

The decks have finally been cleared for Ketan Mehta's Mountain Man, with a Patna court lifting a stay order on the film. A filmmaker had sued Mehta, alleging that he did not have the rights of the film.

With the stay lifted, Mehta is happy that the story of Dashrath Manjhi aka Mountain Man will now reach people. Says he, "How can anyone claim that the rights to make a film on Dashrath Manjhi belong to him when everything about the Mountain Man is in public domain? There are thousands of articles and dozens of documentary films about him. All that information is in the public domain and there can be no copyright on that." He adds, "The claim that the rights were given away in Patna (to the filmmaker who sued Mehta) was not true."

About the film, Mehta says, "It's a truly inspiring story with brilliantperformances by all the actors. In these cynical times, it's a story of hope — a tribute to the triumph of human spirit. How can anyone stop it from reaching the people?"

Who is Mountain Man?
Dashrath Manjhi aka Mountain Man was a poor farmer in Bihar's Gaya district. After his wife died, for want of medical attention, Manjhi decided that nobody else in his village would meet a similar fate. For the next 22 years, from 1960 to 1982, he worked day and night, all alone, constructing a 300-metre-long and 25-ft-wide road through the Gehlour hills. His dedicated effort reduced the distance between Atri and Wazirganj blocks from 75 km to one km, making health facilities easily accessible to fellow villagers. Manjhi lost his life to gallbladder cancer at the age of 70, in 2007
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