Released originally in March 2008, Dev Benegal’s fresh fertile and fascinating movie ‘Road, Movie’ is back in selected movie theatres. The story of a wandering movie vehicle and a young drifter driving though a journey of self-awareness was not easy to make.
Dev Benegal began his filmmaking career well, starting out by adapting Upamanyu Chatterjee’s novel English, August to the screen. The refreshing film was well received, but five years down the line, his next film Split Wide Open met with critical disapproval.
Next, the 46-year-old director’s fortune took another turn for the better. The ‘Road, Movie’ was written by Benegal as an adventure, a journey of self-discovery. It’s a simple story but profound in its view of human life and survival in an age of globalisation.
The whimsical film speaks of a young man’s journey into the unknown. Vishnu (Abhay Deol), a restless young man, comes up with a plan to save his father’s faltering business.
It’s madness! A journey into the unknown, transporting an old decrepit truck across a harsh land. The road trip proves life-altering for each of the travellers, but especially for Vishnu who discovers life, love and laughter on the Indian highway.
Travelling psychologically with a touring cinema took Dev Benegal (nephew of the great Shyam Benegal) to a world where past and present and future freely coexist. A carnival-esque journey where man, nature, animals and film all came together for that fleeting moment underneath the starlit sky. ‘Road, Movie’ grew from this journey into the unknown. A story of a young man transporting an old truck across the mythic landscape of India. It is a modern tale of survival and hope in a world of fear, prejudice and authority.
Addressing a theme seldom attempted, Road Movie features only three main characters played by Deol, Satish Kaushik and Tannishtha Chatterjee. Kaushik’s role was originally offered to Om Puri who was too busy to accept Road, Movie. It was shot in flaming colours in Rajasthan and Kutch .
