Tax Exemption for film on Dasrath Manjhi: Nitish politicking?

GAYA: By giving tax exemption to 'Mountain Man' the Masala film made by Bollywood director Ketan Mehta with Nawazuddin Siddiqi in the lead role, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has exposed himself to the charge of politicking ahead of the crucial assembly election, feel Magadh watchers.
Though the film was made three years back, its release just ahead of the assembly election in the state and JD(U) attempt to project Dasrath Manjhi as the Mahadalit icon apparently to counter Jitan Manjhi eying the same slot, make it two plus two equal four in Bihar politics.
The somewhat aggressive marketing of the film and its Masala type promo available on You tube make a caricature of good cinema, says film producer and Magadh culture icon Sanjay Sahay.
Sahay, the producer and story writer of the national award winning film Patang having Om Puri, Shabana Azmi and Bihari Babu Shatrughan Sinha in the lead roles, says that the very foundation on which the film is based remains questionable as the claim that Dasrath Manjhi flattened the 60 ft long, 30 ft wide and 25 ft high hillock is not scientifically credible and independently verifiable.
Even Dasrath Manjhi never claimed that he flattened the hillock out of love for his wife. Manjhi who was a frequent visitor to this correspondent, on more than one occasion recalled that it was not the love but the challenge thrown by his wife Faguni, the recipient of several hard slaps for a delayed half lunch that propelled him to try his hammer on the hillock.
During the film's shooting, Director Ketan Mehta, while agreeing that Manjhi's claim may not stand factual scrutiny told TOI that even if the idea of flattening the hillock came to Dasrath's mind, it was enough give 'poor man's Shah Jahan' tag to Dasrath.
The apparently crude romanticisation of Dasrath Manjhi is also an affront to lovers of good cinema, says Prof Ataur Rahman who continues to be nostalgic about what he regards the golden age of good cinema in the seventies and early eighties in which actors like Naseerudin Shah, Girish Karanard, Om Puri, Shabana Azmi, Smita Patil and Deepti Nawal, to name only a few, created a wave.
Tax exemption has nothing to do with the quality of the film or its story line, says activist SB Bhaskar, who spent the better part of his life fighting for the land rights of the Mushars, the community to which Dasrath belonged. It is purely opportunistic politics, an election stunt, says Bhaskar.
The activist hoped that the Election Commission and the courts take cognisance of the matter as Emperror style largesses do no credit to democratic govts. Inflicting loss on exchequer in the hope of getting some extra votes may be smart politics but it certainly was poor economics, said Bhaskar.