The 27-year-old actress, who starred in National Award winning Bengali film "Antaheen" in 2009, has been paired opposite Nawazuddin Siddiqui in the biopic on a Bihar-based labourer, who did the herculean task of cutting a road through a mountain.
"Radhika (Apte) has been finalised to play the leading lady opposite me in the film," said Nawazuddin, who was the first to get on board.
"Mountain Man", is based on the life of Dashrath Manjhi from Nagar, Gehlaur, Gaya. In 22 years, he cut a 300-metre-long and 25-ft-wide road through a mountain to link Ghivra mauja of Dashrath Nagar, in Gehlaur Ghati to Atara Prakhand, Wajirganj thereby reducing the distance from 75 kilometres to just one kilometre.
Manjhi, fondly called Mountain Man, died in 2007. He was 70.
The movie will be shot in Bihar.
