Dashrath Manjhi moved a mountain for his beloved. Now Ketan Desai, director of a biopic on the mountain man, wants to take the love story to the world.

Manjhi: The Mountain Man, the biopic, will release in over 400 screens across India on Friday. And, Ketan said: "If the film succeeds in India, we'll get it dubbed in foreign languages and release it abroad." He further said: "Dashrath's historic deed is a symbol of the spirit of India. We want not just people in India, but also those abroad to watch the film."

Chief minister Nitish Kumar, who attended a special screening of the movie on Monday, was all praise for Ketan and actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui, who plays Dashrath in the movie. "I loved the spirit of the director and the way Nawaz has acted. Ketan Mehta is an alumni of FTII Pune, which is now moving towards dark ages. It is being randomly headed by anyone (referring to the Centre appointing BJP member Gajendra Chauhan as its president ). I am really worried about its future. The institute should be run by people like Ketan who have the calibre."

There is that ubiquitous worry about the movie being leaked on the Internet though. Ketan said representatives of Viacom 18 Motion Pictures had managed to remove some portions and were trying to completely block it. "However, one can understand the film in its entirety only by watching it in theatres and not on a laptop," he said.

Ketan, producer Deepa Sahi, actors Nawazuddin and Radhika Apte, and associate director Varadraj Swami reached Gehlaur, around 35km northeast of Gaya district headquarters, on Monday to promote the film. "We are here to pay tribute to him on his death anniversary today (Monday)."

A major portion of the 125-minute film was shot here from October 2012 to March 2014. The film deals with Dasrath's love for his wife, one that made him chip away at a hill, from 1960 to 1982, to carve out a 25 feet high, 30 feet wide and 305 feet long road, reducing the distance from Gehlaur to Wazirganj by over 55km to just 9 km. He undertook this because his wife, Faguni Devi, sustained injuries while crossing a narrow passage to fetch water for him and, deprived of timely medical help, died. "We will also think of adopting Gehlaur," Ketan said. He handed over a cheque for Rs 2 lakh to Dashrath's son Bhagirath and another Rs 5.3 lakh to a school run by an organisation registered in Dashrath's name.