Road, Movie (2010)

To be honest, this movie is one of my favorite Indian movies in a long time. I have stopped watching contemporary bollywood garbage which it dishes out every other week. I consider BLACK as India's best movie in last 30 years. 3 Idiots & Rang De Basanti are good, but this movie is in class of its own. It almost feels MAGICAL that you are transported into Dev Benegal's world. Its mesmerizing movie. An astonishing work of cinematography. Do anything but don't miss out on this HIDDEN GEM.Also, this movie never had huge marketing behind it, i can understand why that was the case. Simply people in India don't like such artistic movies and most are illiterate but still it doesn't bring this movie down. I am glad such a movie was made and it is an awesome experience. You will feel entrenched in the Director's vision of India & Rajasthan.

Road, Movie is director Dev Benegal's tribute to the magical realm of cinema. He is back in style after a decade-long sabbatical following Split Wide Open, to show the world how much he has matured as a filmmaker. He adds his Midas touch to such an offbeat piece of celluloid, giving it a western aroma only to take you on a journey that is sure to find you wherever you are and promises to take you wherever you want to go.Vishnu (Abhay Deol) is a young man who is sick and tired of the life that is thrust upon him. To escape from his father's hair oil business, he volunteers to drive an antique 1942 Chevrolet truck across the desert to a museum, only to experience the thrill of adventure amidst his humdrum life. On his way he picks up a young tea-stall boy (Mohammed Faizal Usmani) who wishes for a better life in the neighbouring city and a voluble mechanic (Satish Kaushik) who intends to attend a local fair. Vishnu's road trip is filled with its initial hiccups with the truck breaking down at the drop of a hat. He encounters a corrupt cop who looks for sport in Vishnu amidst the lifeless desert. This is when Vishnu discovers that his truck houses a movie projector and is a mini theatre-on-wheels. He trades their release with the cop who has a libido alive enough to watch blue films.The third character Vishnu picks up en route is a young gypsy woman, played by Tannishtha Chatterjee of Brick Lane fame. Time and again, amidst the drought-struck desert, Vishnu and his mates pass by a band of women frantically searching for water, the imagery being heightened when they see Vishnu drink from a bottle. Vishnu's presence of mind is heightened in the climax when he dupes the desert-don (Yashpal Sharma) with his hair oil advertisement gimmick. Unfortunately, after 97 minutes, Road, Movie comes to an abrupt halt, leaving you desirous of much more.Road, Movie, as the name suggests, is both about the life on the road and how the characters are rescued by the movies they screen. Cinematographer Michel Amathieu (Paris Je T'Aime) has captured the barren virgin deserts of Rajasthan with immense grandeur and élan and deserves the laurels for providing the visual imagery. The background score by Michael Brook (Into the Wild) is reminiscent of Gustavo Santaolalla in The Motorcycle Diaries and sets the tone of the journey. Production design by Anne Seibel (Munich) illuminates the sequences of the fun-fair amidst the dull and dry desert, which sadly is just a dream sequence. The dialogues are hilarious and coupled with the comic timing of such seasoned actors trigger giggles and laughs, especially those of the little boy and Satish Kaushik when he is verbose, drunk on Old Monk and high on ganja!! The plot does have scope for improvement and could have been thickened. The characters could have been further developed. All but the protagonist are unnamed. Satish Kaushik is at his comic best. Tannishtha does justice to her limited screen time reaching her peak when she sings an impromptu gypsy song. Abhay Deol shows exactly why he was always who Dev Benegal had in mind. Abhay Deol has grown from strength to strength such that none of his cousins are even distant competition to him. He comes across as very disillusioned and enigmatic and unlike in Dev D, he is shown in this movie searching and drinking water. His chemistry with Tannishtha seems coercive and feeble.This film is sluggishly slow, just as the speed of the vehicle depicted and it requires tremendous patience to watch and appreciate it. The film conveys an important message of self-discovery and fulfillment albeit it loses direction. Road, Movie is sure to tug at the strings of your heart and is a must watch for all ages. So, get on the road and watch this movie. I am going with a 3.5 stars out of 5.Joydeep Roy for MuvieMadlyDeeply.com

The movie is awesome! A very brave attempt by the director!The worst thing that could happen to a director is getting extremely shallow reviews. And which, unfortunately, happened with Dev Benegal. Although critics/reviewers appreciated the movie,but I believe, almost all of them could not decipher the metaphors, woven to form the story, which actually was the backbone of the discourse.Every character, every event in the story is well crafted. So, in this article, I just plan to throw a few hints on the metaphors used in the movie. For the sake of exhaustiveness of this article, I would like to mention that direction, cinematography etc. etc. are superb.Superficially it seems that the story shows journey of a young boy, 'Vishnu' (Abhay Deol), from his home town to Samudrabad on road. But actually this was a philosophical portrait of 'The journey of life', and subtle metaphors were used as colors.Every thing is very cleverly shown. 1.Huge stress has been given on 'water'. Does 'water' signify water or something else? 2.What do those weird characters (group of water searching ladies, water lord etc.), portrayed by the director, signify actually? 3.Things, like the character of mechanic who always gives the right suggestion or the strange fair that suddenly appeared out of the blue an vanished in Shoonya, mean something ? Or probably are the side effects of Director's Block . 4.What does the 'Atma (means 'soul' in Hindi) Oil', that magically (and comically) solves every problem, signify? 5.At the very first thought, "Road, Movie", why this name? .....and the list of all those riddles, which should spontaneously pop up in the mind of keen and intelligent viewer, go on . Solving and linking these riddles brings to you a great philosophical discourse.Special mention: The way in which the magic of the mesmerizing virtual world of film been picturized is simply admirable.So Please go and watch out this awesome movie with the attention and respect that this movie deserves. (Originally posted at http://skepticeye.wordpress.com )

Finally, "Road, Movie"- critically acclaimed director Dev Benegal's much awaited 3rd directorial venture comes to Indian screens after 'wandering' over from a number of film festivals.First look at the movie and you will know that the director isn't catering to a large strata of audience. The movie has a chugging along sort of pace, quite like the Truck that is the carrier of our protagonists. A feel of wanderlust will strike you if you have that sort of streak.The movie is basically about a journey of self-discovery (Vishnu's). The wanderlust struck oil businessman's son discovers in this journey the meaning of relationships. His companions in this journey are a mechanic (kaushik), a tea-seller boy (Faizal) and a nomad (tannishtha). Along the way there are skirmishes with the police and water mafia.The performances are sterling. Abhay deol plays to the hilt the selfish, city-lad. Mohammed faizal impresses as the tea-stall boy an Tannishtha Chatterjee is natural in her role of a wandering nomad. But the man who steals the show as the mechanic is veteran actor Satish Kaushik. Absolutely wonderful performance by him.Besides the cinematography is absolutely scintillating. Never has the rajasthan landscape been so beautifully picturised on screen. Michael Brook's background score is beautiful to say the least.A movie with international sensibilities but an Indian heart. Calling this Bollywood will be a shame. This movie belongs to world cinema. Quite easily this one belongs to the collector's shelf. Mr. Dev Benegal-- Take a bow, Sire! Go on this journey or rather 'Wander' into it.