Such a Long Journey (1998)

Circa 1971, Gustad Noble lives in a one bedroom hall rented apartment in Byculla, Bombay. He travels to work everyday by Central Railway to Victoria Terminus and walks to Flora Fountain to ... See full summary »

Director:

Sturla Gunnarsson

Writers:

Rohinton Mistry (novel), Sooni Taraporevala

Stars:

Roshan Seth, Soni Razdan, Om Puri

4 wins & 9 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Roshan Seth	...	Gustad Noble
Soni Razdan	...	Dilnavaz Noble
Om Puri	...	Ghulam Mohamed
Naseeruddin Shah	...	Major Jimmy Bilimoria
Ranjit Chowdhry	...	Pavement Artist
Sam Dastor	...	Dinshawji
Kurush Deboo	...	Tehmul
Pearl Padamsee	...	Mrs. Kutpitia
Vrajesh Hirjee	...	Sohrab Noble
Shazneed Damania	...	Roshan Noble
Kurush Dastur	...	Darius Noble
Noshirwan Jehangir	...	Inspector Bamji
Dinyar Contractor	...	Rabadi
Souad Faress	...	Mrs. Rabadi
Shivani Jha	...	Jasmine Rabadi

Storyline

Circa 1971, Gustad Noble lives in a one bedroom hall rented apartment in Byculla, Bombay. He travels to work everyday by Central Railway to Victoria Terminus and walks to Flora Fountain to his place of employment, namely the Central Bank of India. He has three children, Sohrab - who has finished his college studies and is now being admitted, much to his dislike, to Indian Institute of Technology (I.I.T.); while Darius, his second son, and daughter, Roshan, are school-going; his wife, Dilnavaz, looks after the children and the household. Their neighborhood is filthy, people urinate and defecate near the wall which encloses their building. Gustad asks a pavement artist to move near his building, draw pictures of religious Gods and Goddesses depicting the four main religions: Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, and Sikhism. The Artist agrees, and soon the place is transformed into a huge temple where people of all religions come to pay their respects. It is only a handful of people who know ...

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Plot Keywords:

based on novel | independent film | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

UK Canada

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 October 1999 (UK)

Also Known As:

El largo viaje

Filming Locations:

Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$44,364, 26 March 2000, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$92,943, 30 April 2000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Amy International Artists,The Film Works

Technical Specs

Runtime:

113 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

More than 10 years after its publication, the novel by Rohinton Mistry, on which this film is based, was controversially removed from the syllabus of a university in India. In an ironic twist, the book ban followed a violent protest by a fringe political party which objected to sections of the book calling it a fringe political party that uses violent protests to stay relevant.

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Goofs

When Gustad enters the Bank Manager's office to take the call about his daughter, as he opens the glass door, a crew member in a white t-shirt is reflected.

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Soundtracks

Sun ja ja thandi hawa
Music by Rahul Dev Burman, Majrooh
Performed by Lata Mangeshkar, Kishore Kumar

User Reviews

A rich, wonderful novel of a movie

I saw this film at the Taos Film Festival last year, and was just overwhelmed by it. It's a rich, warm novel brought to the screen, beautifully acted, and well directed. More than anything, it reminded me of the films of David Lean, both in its ability to handle a complex story, and its knack for creating powerful scenes that affect you on several different levels. The best movie I've seen in years.