'Road, Movie' review: Indian indie cult classic?

In 1994 a movie "English, August," based on Upamanyu Chatterjee's cult novel of the same name, caught the imagination of a new generation of cinema goers and heralded a new direction for Indie films in India. Dev Benegal picked up the National Award for his debut venture, followed it with "Split Wide Open" and returns now after a 10 year hiatus with "Road, Movie."

A simple tale told at a languid pace, it takes one through the stark but beautiful desert of Rajasthan and Kutch and stuns you with silences that punctuate a super soundtrack by Michael Brooks and haunting visuals shot by Michel Amathieu, giving a new contemporary language to ethnic India.

Parallel stories run: a young man, Vishnu (Abhay Deol), is on a journey to deliver a 1942 Chevy truck, which doubles as a traveling cinema, and to find water that is scarce and mafia controlled. The landscape is lifeless and law and order is sporadic. Along the way he picks up co-passengers; a young vagrant (Mohammed Faizal), an old wise man (Satish Kaushik) and a lost gypsy (Tannishtha Chatterjee), each bringing something into Vishnu's life. 

Actor Abhay Deol in a still from "Road, Movie" shot in the north Indian deserts.

It is an important film for 2010 because it has the local audience divided, and not in polarized emotions of love and hate, but intellectually. The minds that enjoy cinema as art (and Mumbai has many) are loving wrapping their heads around the modern existentialism and unexplained tensions of the film while others who prefer to be entertained are left with a feeling of "What's the point? What did it say really? Nothing. It's pretentious film festival stuff."

Some feel "Road, Movie" is about the lost civilization of rural India, some say it echoes the confusion among the young in contemporary India and one critic calls it a failed lyrical tribute to the magic of movies.

To give you these three sides of the debate we're pitching prominent Mumbai film critic, CNN-IBN's Rajeev Masand's review against that of a struggling filmmaker at PassionForCinema.com (a popular desi film blog for indie-spirited directors) and add to the mix cinephile Deepika Sorabjee. 

The film critic: Rajeev Masand gives it a crisp and concise thumbs down

"Much like the ramshackle truck that the film's protagonists make their journey in, Road, Movie directed by Dev Benegal, is a slow and rickety ride that tires you out by the time it reaches its destination. A visually stunning but emotionally hollow adventure, packed with tired stereotypes, the film is an unsatisfying watch even at running time of 90-odd minutes."

Read the full review.

The struggling filmmaker: Chintan enjoys the film's understated optimism

"The movie is about a lost civilization of rural India...a philosophical ride, as to how the urban India and the world with all its materialism and money is unable to find the innocence and happiness which the rural folks still latch onto in the few hours of watching cinema and merrymaking and the mela...The great thing about the film for me was [that]...it did not go melodramatic. It did not build any false hopes."

"It not only displays the urban-rural divide, but about divide in general, when in the era of Internet which was supposed to bring people closer, people are moving farther and farther away...[yet] I wonder how many movies which deal the most pessimistic truths about humanity, can achieve such a high level of optimism."

Read the full review.

The cinephile: CNNGo contributor Deepika Sorabjee says, "Don't expect to find life's answers here"

"Road, Movie gets the essence of its genre right. It relentlessly keeps you on the road in the vivid wilderness and brings in moments of wonder and the unexpected that one finds on journeys. It may lack the purposefulness of the characters but that echoes real life, and the confusion among the young in contemporary India. Just don't go with expectations of finding life's answers. Like in real life, in this reel life some are rightly left unanswered and it exposes others which need a social and political think. See Benegal's movie for a visual feast and a subtle understated story yet one that truly shows the changing contemporary clashes that we witness in India today."