Road, Movie (Hope you notice the comma between the two words) is one of new age movies for the 'Intellectual' audience. One where the movie is not made only to be seen but interpreted and understood as well. The ideation was good but execution was not. The characterization was interesting but performances were not. The movie is like a painting, you can't just look at it and enjoy unless you understand what it stands for. I am very disappointed that such a good idea has just gone wasted due to poor execution. The director forgot that its a 'Movie' and not a narrative. The Audience wants to get 'entertained' also apart from 'Intellectual Stimulation. It falls in the trap of being too arty to the extent of being boring in most parts.
All through the movie you keep guessing, what is the movie all about, what is the central plot, where is it leading, to the extent that you start asking what the hell is going on here? Suddenly the movie ends and you come out of the cinema hall thinking what actually happened in there. Well, Thats not a nice feeling i tell you If you are not in a mood to exercise your brains and only watch a movie for its entertainment value. Don't waste your time.
The Plot: Road, Movie on the surface is a one line story of a guy who doesn't want to sell hair oil likehis father and goes on a road trip to leave an old truck to its destination and enroute meets 3 different people who first become his co-passangers and then friends. The movie moves forward (or atleast tries to) with the background of water smuggling in rajasthan, a mela, corrupt cops and a couple of other sub plots. As i said, the movie is not about witnessing a story but in trying to figure out director's interpretation of the plot.
My Interpretation: Road,Movie according to me tries to depit life as a journey (read: a road trip) where you meet strangers who end up becoming your friends. Its a tribute to 'cinema' per se. Whenever you are down on that road and meet obstacles or problems, movies provide you the relief that you are looking for. At the weekend when you watch a movie. you forget about all your worries and cinema actually takes you in a different world altogether. Movies are like 'Tel Malish', whenever you are stressed, Movies work as the champi which takes all your worries away. On papers, i think it was one of the most powerful and subtle parallels that could have been drawn between life and cinema. But, sadly it just did not have the same impact on screen.
The Irony: Ironically, the movie talks about Movies working as stress reliever and the audience actually has a head ache trying to understand what the movie was all about. According to the movie, A Movie is supposed to entertain the audience taking one in a different world altogether where one does not care about the problems of one's life and just gets engrossed and comes out relieved and stressfree. But it does exactly the opposite. It was more like a puzzle you are trying to solve rather than 'enjoying' a movie. You hardly get entertained in any of the sequences. There is no 'happy' feeling when you come out of the cinema hall. Infact, it actually gives you more stress when you are trying hard to understand the director's vision. Performances: It was a big disappointment for me from all the actors. Just nothing to mention. Everybody was just very average.
Miscellaneous: Direction was loose. Just like the characters' journey in the movie, the movie itself was lost during most of the narrative. You just did not know where the movie was heading or what point the director was trying to prove. Script was weak. Scenes just seemed to spring from nowhere. Suddenly characters were being introduced from every nook and corner. Dacoits suddenly started having a change of heart after using a hair oil. It was just too arbit and random. Apart from the strong 'idea' the only thing worth mentioning is cinematography. The colors hae been captured very beautifully. Even the night sequences had just the right effect. Kudos to the cinematographer.
Positives: ' The Thought', Cinematography.
Negatives: Everything except the two mentioned above.
Overall : Go if you are the 'intelletual cinema goer' types and do not care about 'entertainment'
Feel-O-Meter: 4/10
All through the movie you keep guessing, what is the movie all about, what is the central plot, where is it leading, to the extent that you start asking what the hell is going on here? Suddenly the movie ends and you come out of the cinema hall thinking what actually happened in there. Well, Thats not a nice feeling i tell you If you are not in a mood to exercise your brains and only watch a movie for its entertainment value. Don't waste your time.
The Plot: Road, Movie on the surface is a one line story of a guy who doesn't want to sell hair oil likehis father and goes on a road trip to leave an old truck to its destination and enroute meets 3 different people who first become his co-passangers and then friends. The movie moves forward (or atleast tries to) with the background of water smuggling in rajasthan, a mela, corrupt cops and a couple of other sub plots. As i said, the movie is not about witnessing a story but in trying to figure out director's interpretation of the plot.
My Interpretation: Road,Movie according to me tries to depit life as a journey (read: a road trip) where you meet strangers who end up becoming your friends. Its a tribute to 'cinema' per se. Whenever you are down on that road and meet obstacles or problems, movies provide you the relief that you are looking for. At the weekend when you watch a movie. you forget about all your worries and cinema actually takes you in a different world altogether. Movies are like 'Tel Malish', whenever you are stressed, Movies work as the champi which takes all your worries away. On papers, i think it was one of the most powerful and subtle parallels that could have been drawn between life and cinema. But, sadly it just did not have the same impact on screen.
The Irony: Ironically, the movie talks about Movies working as stress reliever and the audience actually has a head ache trying to understand what the movie was all about. According to the movie, A Movie is supposed to entertain the audience taking one in a different world altogether where one does not care about the problems of one's life and just gets engrossed and comes out relieved and stressfree. But it does exactly the opposite. It was more like a puzzle you are trying to solve rather than 'enjoying' a movie. You hardly get entertained in any of the sequences. There is no 'happy' feeling when you come out of the cinema hall. Infact, it actually gives you more stress when you are trying hard to understand the director's vision. Performances: It was a big disappointment for me from all the actors. Just nothing to mention. Everybody was just very average.
Miscellaneous: Direction was loose. Just like the characters' journey in the movie, the movie itself was lost during most of the narrative. You just did not know where the movie was heading or what point the director was trying to prove. Script was weak. Scenes just seemed to spring from nowhere. Suddenly characters were being introduced from every nook and corner. Dacoits suddenly started having a change of heart after using a hair oil. It was just too arbit and random. Apart from the strong 'idea' the only thing worth mentioning is cinematography. The colors hae been captured very beautifully. Even the night sequences had just the right effect. Kudos to the cinematographer.
Positives: ' The Thought', Cinematography.
Negatives: Everything except the two mentioned above.
Overall : Go if you are the 'intelletual cinema goer' types and do not care about 'entertainment'
Feel-O-Meter: 4/10
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