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21 reviews in total

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13 out of 15 people found the following review useful:
The journey of life, the magic of cinema!, 26 June 2010

Author: Peter Young from Australia

'Road, Movie' is an extraordinary movie and one of the most beautiful films I've seen in recent years. This is the story of Vishnu (Abhay Deol), a young apathetic and carefree guy who hits the road in his old neighbour's very antique kind of a truck, a 1942 Chevy with a traveling cinema in its back carrying Victoria film projectors. For him, this truck is in a sense a way to escape his family's burden - selling Atma hair oil for his dad — and take a week of freedom while driving from Rajasthan to the sea. On his way, Vishnu picks up several passengers who go on this journey with him: a smart orphaned boy, an old wise mechanic, and a beautiful widowed gypsy. Even this barren place has its rulers, however, and they appear in the form of a sadistic policeman and cruel, water-hoarding gangsters.

This movie is visually stunning, poetic, artistic and completely real. Dev Benegal's direction is fantastic. In order to understand the true meaning of this symbolic piece, one would have to figure out what every object in the movie signifies - the oil, the water, the well, the people he meets and goes on this journey with, the group of water searching women he always encounters on his way. This is the journey of life, and everyone is free to interpret it the way they want. But it does not really matter if you just want to enjoy the film. The movie is just engaging, mysterious and interesting without forcing you to find a hidden significance in the story. The situations, the dialogue, the characters, the locations are so authentic and fascinating that the movie flows extremely well. I was captivated not only because it is visually stunning; it is also perfectly paced and has an inexplicably understated sense of life.

Road, Movie captures the serene and peaceful beauty of the broad and desolate desert landscapes. It is done is a way that is so precise that there seems to be no way possible to take your eyes off the screen. This is aided by two aspects which are of the strongest in the film: the exquisite cinematography and the superb background score. These two aspects, done with sheer excellence by Michel Amathieu and Michael Brook, respectively, are perfectly brought together on-screen to create a breathtakingly mesmerising visual treat. The music complements the images and vice versa. I loved the sequences in which the group started screening different classic films, used to relax the villains. From Deewaar (1975) to Jaal (1986) to Andaz (1971). And ironically, Vishnu's father's damned hair oil somehow always comes to his rescue.

As already mentioned, the film is extremely realistic, and the acting is roundly natural. All characters no matter how lengthy or brief they are look totally genuine. Abhay Deol leads this film, and this brilliant actor yet again proves why he is possibly the finest actor of his age bracket. He is a brave actor as he is not afraid to be unlikable or look selfish and he does it exceedingly well. Mohammed Faisal plays the nameless boy who is in search of a better life with ease and conviction. Tannishtha Chatterjee is mind-blowing as the mysterious and widowed gypsy woman. The scene in which she starts singing a beautiful folklore song is wonderful. However, the one who steals the show is undoubtedly Satish Kaushik - he is simply outstanding from start to end. He makes his character so authentic, likable and memorable. This is one of his finest performances and according to me the finest in the movie.

In one of the film's most wonderful dialogues, Satish Kaushik's character says something that really epitomises the power of this picture: "Ah, the magic of cinema - lets you forget life, pain, worry... Takes you far away into a world of dreams." 'Road, Movie' really is a lyrical tribute to the magic of movies - a breathtaking, beautiful and fascinating gem. This is a spectacular picture.

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21 out of 32 people found the following review useful:
Metaphors...Awesomely executed!!!, 6 March 2010

Author: apoorve-khandelwal from India

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 )

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13 out of 17 people found the following review useful:
Wander into it..., 4 March 2010

Author: TheSupertramp (shivamkbc@gmail.com) from India

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.

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13 out of 19 people found the following review useful:
Brilliant- Main tujhe Mard banata hoon, 6 March 2010

Author: Animesh Priya from India

Just came back from watching this movie and realized why Robert DeNero wanted these guys to send him a DVD of the movie. The movie is brilliant. The story is nicely written, the direction and cinematography is superb and the background score could not have been better. Now to the important part, the actors. Mr Benegal got together an excellent cast for the movie and they don't disappoint. Abhay Deol, as usual is awesome. Satish Kaushik and Yashpal Sharma, seasoned actors do their part well, but adding to this was the excellent performance by Mohammed Faisal(the boy) and Tannishtha Chatterjee. And the reason I am ranting about the actors is that there is one scene in the movie which could have either made or broke a masterpiece.

This movie is a masterpiece. Go watch it.

Rating- 9/10

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10 out of 15 people found the following review useful:
A lesson in cinematographic excellence, an incomplete movie, 9 March 2010

Author: codenamepaulie from India

There are just four characters in the movie. Vishnu, played by Abhay Deol, wants to do more than just waste his time selling herbal oil as his father does before him. So, he volunteers for a friend to deliver across the desert an old truck which is a mobile cinema. The film is then about his journey, the movies that he plays & more importantly, the people that he meets on the way.

We have seen bits of brilliance from Satish Kaushik in the past, from Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro to Calendar in Mr. India, but I think this is the one that he will be most remembered for as an actor. Cast as a veteran mechanic, Kaushik plays a central role in taking the movie in a different direction than the protagonist has planned to. He has been cast very well along with the little boy that Vishnu picks up early in his journey. Both these characters provide for the lighter moments in the film while also inducing some thought provoking dialogue. There is also scope for a female lead. A tribal whose husband was slain over a water dispute some years ago. As she mentions that she too wants to get lost in the magic of cinema, one can't help but wonder if there is a deeper meaning to this sentence. And this deep meaning dialogue is a standard feature of the film.

Wide angle views of the vastness of the desert that lead to nothingness in the desert and a set of women treading along for days in search of water are brilliantly executed. And, other than the road & the movies, they are a common string throughout the film.

The film exists at many levels. At the most superficial level, it appears to be a subtle comedy with situational jokes and a bit of slapstick too. You dig a little, and you find that it is a person's journey to finding himself by having to deal with an old truck, rough, dry weather and some people who have been through their share of pain & suffering and how they still manage to be at peace and look forward to some elusive tranquility.

Dig a little deeper and you find the film is about some inherent social problems that still affect most of rural & tribal India. That something as basic as water can be a reason for murder & arson is hard to imagine but it is brought to us with a lot of sensitivity. How the lead characters almost die of thirst, how they almost get killed for trying to steal water all help appreciate a problem that is alien to most of us.

Dig a bit more and we find that Indian cinema is trying to usher in the seemingly selfish directors who make films from the heart with a message that they want to send across to anyone who tries to understand their cinema. There is no plot in the movie that would build up into something big. For a film like this, there has to be no plot. Very few directors can do it and get away with it. It is a movie that should go down as one that shifted or at least tried to shift the paradigm of Indian cinema.

That said there is much that the director could do better explaining & elaborating a little. Like what is the protagonist actually wanting to do with the truck, how does a particular mela (caravan fair) disappear overnight and mostly, why such a brilliant film seem a bit too long even for its 95 minute run time.

It is most definitely a lesson in cinematographic excellence. One would just hope that it would be a complete movie in itself too.

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5 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
A road trip worth taking, 23 April 2010

Author: dbborroughs from Glen Cove, New York

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

I saw this as part of the Tribeca Film Festivals pay per view component and I'm so glad I did, it wiped away the bad feeling I had from the films I had seen earlier in the evening.

A beautifully filmed little movie, the story concerns Vishnu, a young man who agrees to drive a friends roaming cinema across country and what happens after that as he picks up passengers and has some adventures along the way.

Its a rambling film that is perhaps not perfect story wise, but which over comes its weaknesses thanks to beautiful film-making and a cast of characters who worm their way into your heart. Its a film that is like all of the best films, about the people at its center.

I really liked and can't recommend it enough,

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4 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
cinematographic landmark, India's answer t o 'el aura', 29 March 2010

Author: dasvid_beckham_me from India

You were not forced to buy a ticket to this and neither were you going to the theaters for a women crying on the remains of her dead son/husband.

Road,movie comes as a completely basic story line that has Vishnu(Abhay Deol) as a boy who goes through a certain phase revolving around poverty stricken, starving population of the deserts and ends the movie as a man.

The others are cameos, Satish Kaushik carves the way with super acting amidst the most gorgeous the deserts have ever looked ! 90 minutes are not very long and Road is more than worth it for within a certain number of years the main behind cinema will shift towards cinematography and art direction.This is the bible for those days.

overall a 7/10 || 8/10 and a pleasure watching the closest Bollywood has ever come to "El aura".

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5 out of 8 people found the following review useful:
A Journey through the Deserts.., 6 March 2010

Author: Dee Jay from India

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Well the summary describes the movie in a nutshell, and very appropriately too. It's literally - "A Journey through the Deserts..", vis-a-vis contemporary Hindi movies, which perhaps bears a stark metaphoric resemblance to the deserts.... mostly, devoid of movies such as "Road, Movie"

To begin with - the movie seemed a little sluggish, the way it slowly moved on from one act to the other.

But what's the haste anyways, guys? (Add to it the fact that the movies' running time is half of regular movies viz. 90 minutes approx is what you're in for ).

Gradually, the story unfolds..... without any haste, and one needn't worry about those fleeting moments of 'absent-mindedness'; whence ones' thoughts may have dwindled far away, for probably just a little moment ...and once you are back - body, mind (and perhaps - soul too!).. you mostly won't have missed that "all-to-small-duration", but all too important dialog/narration/scene.

Usually in such cases, unless someone with you or without, updates you - you are bound to be lost throughout the rest of the movie. (The last comment assumes that, one isn't gifted with the uncommon-sense of prediction/or ability for "Regression Therapy"; which would otherwise have helped in conjuring up the fillers for the parts that one had missed). But then, it's not required here – as such "probability theory" isn't required, here.

With that small intro for a long movie (was that a lie ?? ! :-) ), here are my two cents worth of review comments ( I won't dwindle much on the storyline, as it's already been presented here @ IMDb, pretty well): - The movie is considerably different (something similar to the so called genre of "Art Movies", of the yesterdays!). Mostly, there hasn't been any other benchmark of movies like ROAD - that one can compare with, once it's finished ( so a mild note of caution - if chatting/gossiping and discussions cum comparisons between movies is one's pastime - you mayn't get much food for talk :-(

- "ROAD.."; the movie buff's movie - i.e. putting it otherwise: "It's a movie about the charm, ethos & pathos of the magical world of cinema - That 3 hours of magic , mostly, where the audience forgets the daily grind - and may even identify with the protagonist or other characters. And if all goes well – one may even get new insights in/to "life"… one's own and off all humanity in general!

- Having saying that the; presentation and cinematography is brilliant ( probably that's an understatement), as one's treated to the visual delight of the vast deserts of Rajasthan (which is the backdrop of the movie, if I wasn't mistaken).

- Incidentally, one also get's a good feel of the typical life in the deserts, the people - their customs, longings, triumphs and tribulations. A complete visual treat, to put it succinctly.

- The background score is vibrant and subtly complements and many a times enhances what appears on the screen. However there isn't much of a catchy song that would garner a lot of big-bucks, as Ring-Tones / Dialer- Tones…! One may wonder why isn't the industry churning out more of such gems - movies that the entire world can fathom at least (if not identify with)

- A brief word of caution before I sign off : in case one has come for the movie, expecting to be in for a regular Bollywood movie (all inclusive); than probably there maybe other options that suit better, compared to the one being talked about. g. But if one's game to join the 'Journey Of A Man' {now, where had I heard a similar phrase similar recently? :-)} -- Through the heart of the desert --> then this is surely the ROAD to such a MOVIE!

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6 out of 10 people found the following review useful:
Mesmerizing cinematography and assuasive background score..., 10 March 2010

Author: ranjeet-jha-vv from India

There are few films which give their viewer the freedom to interpret… Road Movies is one of such films.

Road Movie has depicted the struggle of the misfits to escape from reality, to escape into something which is fantasy and unreal. I don't want to disclose the plot of the movie; however there are some movies which don't need Plots.

Dev benegal have done a very brave Job in materializing his vision, I respect his hard work and determination as I know that it would have not been easy to put such dreams on 35MM screen.

Actors were real; Mohammed Faisal,Tannishtha Chatterjee, Abhay Deol and Yashpal Sharma were good. I liked Veerendra Saxena and Satish Kaushik was great.

Mesmerizing cinematography and assuasive background score had forced me to dream like the characters in the film.

My over all experience of the movie was so soothing that I once again fell in love with the art of watching cinema.

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5 out of 9 people found the following review useful:
Haunting & Poetic, 6 March 2010

Author: prabhatgarg from India

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Almost a decade after his last film 'Split Wide Open', and 15 years after the multi-award winning, path-breaking 'English, August'; Dev Benegal returns with his latest - 'Road, Movie'. From a director who has been a poster-boy for independent Indian cinema and a cult figure amongst the young film makers in India, his latest film reaffirms his credentials as a sensitive, visionary film maker who is not afraid to challenge popular perceptions.

'Road, Movie' to begin with is a many layered onion that peels off gradually to reveal an awe inspiring, stunning Indian landscape full of myriad characters stuck in their own microcosms, fitting together like pieces of a jigsaw in a perfect tribute to an extremely diverse and colorful country. At another level, it highlights the soaring human aspirations in a society undergoing rapid development and industrialization, where each of the characters is running away from their past in search of a better life, but is finding it difficult to let go of a hauntingly beautiful and fast disappearing rustic life.

Abhay Deol's Vishnu - complete with an i-pod and a Levi jeans, represents the upwardly mobile yet selfishly aimless Indian youth. An orphaned child laborer played by real life orphan Faizal is clued into the interconnected world's lifestyle in a detached sort of way. A widowed gypsy woman sings melancholy songs of loneliness while hiding from danger, a corrupt cop stuck in a miserable job is driven by lust and power while donning the uniform of a public servant, and a mafia don has a self-taught management degree in doing business in the most precious commodity in the barren landscape - water .

One of the most interesting characters in the film is played by Satish Kaushik. As a 'mechanic' he represents the much older, wiser, guardian angel to the group of 4 leading characters traveling in a 1942 Chevy truck carrying Victoria film projectors, an odd selection of cinema reels, and bottles of hair oil. The truck becomes a haven for these lost souls in their fantasy adventure on the Road, and the Movies they show on the way help them navigate the fear of the unknown with aplomb, laughter and humor.

The film beautifully captures the stunning silent beauty of the vast, barren, haunting landscapes of Thar and Kutch regions of Rajasthan and Gujarat. Besides the humans, the Chevy truck and the Landscape are equally important characters in the movie, speaking volumes through the exquisite cinematography and soul-stirring music. The film's director cleverly uses inanimate objects to build this poetic fable with a magical realism, choosing to be subtle and sensitive, sometimes sacrificing dialog to communicate through his visuals which get imprinted in your memory.

This is a bewitching tale that is bound to linger on in your mind for months, possibly years after you have seen it.

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