In 2015, his life became a film, Manjhi – The Mountain Man. In 2016, India Post issued a postage stamp in his honor. His village is now called Dashrath Nagar, and a road bears his name.
Not everything followed. In 2015, a small six-bed hospital promised for Gehlaur still had not been built. In 2014, his daughter-in-law, Basanti Devi, died; a local official said she had not been given proper medical care.
In 2024, his family was still living in poverty. "Our father was very poor," his son Bhagirath said. "He built the road by breaking the mountain."
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The road is still there. Falguni never got to walk through it.
But the villagers he worked for can cross the hill with ease, just as he wanted.
