PATNA: Dalit leader and former Bihar chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi may have little hope of becoming chief minister again, but he is playing the role of chief minister in an upcoming Bollywood movie named ‘Coat’.
Manjhi, 74, the national president of the minuscule party Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM), is quite happy to land the movie role that is just as unexpected as his becoming Bihar’s chief minister in May 2014. The movie, he said, is based on the life of a poor, Dalit youth called Madho who toils hard to fulfil his desire of wearing a coat and then realises his dream.
“I love this movie’s subject… The movie would show new light to millions of youth who complain about their fate and limited resources and stop moving forward,” said Manjhi, who shot for his role of CM at Tungi village in Nalanda district on Tuesday.
The movie, set in rural Bihar, is a small-budget, experimental movie directed by Akshay Singh. Vivaan Shah, the son of noted actors Naseeruddin Shah and Ratna Pathak, plays the lead role in the movie, which is aimed mainly at the festival circuit, said people familiar with the project.
“I had agreed to act in the movie immediately after listening to its script narrated to me by the producer and director. It is very rich in content. It is a story of struggle and success,” said Manjhi, who served as Bihar’s chief minister for nine months since May 2014.
After JD(U)’s rout in the Lok Sabha polls in 2014, CM Nitish Kumar had stepped down and anointed Manjhi, then a minister in the state cabinet, as the CM. Manjhi took several decisions that felt many in JD(U) annoyed, and he was forced to leave the post for Kumar again seven months later.
Manjhi’s HAM, which snapped ties with NDA in February, has since been a part of the RJD-led Grand Alliance. Manjhi, the only MLA of his party, has vowed to make RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav the next chief minister of Bihar.