Writer and Director Dev Benegal tells the tale with such tenderness and affection that you are slowly but irrevocably seduced by his vision. It is it’s designed as one of those typical festival films that pretend to be a transformative journey of a character who en route discovers the true meaning of life, love and blah blah blah. He astutely uses clips from old Hindi and English classic movies, specially the evocative song ‘Sar jo tera chakraye’, to create a magical mood in the midst of bleak landscape. He also tells that in the film's title Road and Movie are separated by a comma. So the film is equally about both: The lure of the open road and the transformative power of the movies. Therefore It’s is a bittersweet; less bitter, more sweet. Fable about the timeless, and boundary-less magic of cinema. But he seems to have concentrated more on visuals than narrating a gripping story. So frankly, the story is so fragile that it's difficult to hold your attention in those 90 odd minutes. His latest, which marries the two, lacks the enchantment this sort of film must necessarily possess to take hold of, and enthrall. Its screenplay is bland, lacking basic level of drama and what makes it worse is the fact that the plot unravels at a lethargic pace. Its pacing is laboriously slow, its exposition is minimal and there are fleeting moments of magic realism. The direction is also not abstract but a lot is left to your imagination.
In the whole it’s just a onetime watch, but only for those who loves cinema.
Rating: 2.5 / 5