VARANASI: Lal Bihari Mritak, a resident of Azamgarh district who remained ‘dead’ in revenue records for 18 years, is excited to know that a biopic on his struggle to be declared alive in government records is complete and due to release early next year.
The biographical movie on Bihari — ‘Kaagaz’ — written and directed by Satish Kaushik is scheduled to released on January 7, 2021 in UP’s cinemas and also on the OTT platform simultanously.
“I am very happy that my struggle managed to catch the attention of moviemakers also and will be known to many more people through the film,” an elated Bihari told TOI. “I am eagerly waiting for the premiere of the movie and want to see it,” he added.
In the film, actor Pankaj Tripathi has portrayed the character of Bihari. The movie on corruption and flaws in the system also stars Monal Gajjar, Mita Vashisht, Amar Upadhyay and Satish Kaushik.
The film is based on the life and struggle of Bihari, who had to struggle long to prove that he is alive after he was declared dead in the land revenue records.
Bihari remained officially dead between 1975 and 1994. He fought with the bureaucracy for 19 years to prove that he is alive. Meanwhile, he added Mritak (dead) to his name, and founded the Mritak Sangh to highlight the plight of similar people declared dead in records in a conspiracy for usurping their property. Bihari came to know that he was declared dead in revenue records when he applied for a bank loan. His uncle had bribed an official to register him as dead and got the ownership of his ancestral land transferred in his name.
Over the years, Bihari tried various ingenious ways to expose the bungling in records and attract attention to his plight. He organized his own funeral, and even applied for a widow pension for his wife. He also went on to contest elections to prove that he is alive. In 1994, Bihari finally managed to have his official death annulled after a long legal struggle.