Yatra Movie Reviews

This is a kind of movie that leaves you dumbfounded. And also shaken...and stirred (a certain 007 would be happy)! But all of this is certainly not in a very positive sense.

The problem is that you end up wondering whether even professional compulsion of reviewing a flick should have made you watch this one. Ok, so it is an agreed fact that YATRA was never supposed to be one of those entertainers that would make you plan your evening around it. Certainly not! But even in a so-called meaningful film, the least you expect is a comprehensive storyline and some narration that makes you appreciate it while keeping the thoughts clear in your mind that what what you are watching is an 'art film'.

Sadly, even those who appreciate art films would be left disappointed after watching a mish-mash of affairs that happen in Gautam Ghose's YATRA. One distinctly remembers Pankaj Parashar's BANARAS [Urmila, Ashmit, Nasseer] that was called as bizarre and mumbo-jumbo when released some time back. Well, YATRA can comfortably occupy that spot now!

Even reviewing a film like this is a horrendous task. One doesn't quite know where to begin, what to tell and how to conclude. Probably from that aspect, director Gautam Ghose [who holds countless other profiles for the film] may have been smiling from ear to ear since he would have had the thought clear in his mind that all he wanted was to tell a tale that was never meant to be linear.

But hey, how about poor souls who actually go ahead and buy a ticket to watch the proceedings unfold on screen. If the thought was to merely go ahead and tell a tale that was suited to a film maker's own personal 'vision and taste' then why to bring it to mainstream film release across multiplexes? Why not go ahead and have it run mainly at film festivals and get it ready for home entertainment audience?

One may find the outburst here to be too emotional but well, that can't really be helped. Picture this - The story is about an award winning author [Nana Patekar] who has written about a nautch girl [Rekha]. This story is a mix of fact and fiction where Nana goes down the memory lane to remember that incidents that made him get a germ for his story and write a novel.

So far so ok, but then strange things start happening on screen. Nana meets Rekha again as the film continues its verbose 'yatra'. Meanwhile in an attempt to be true to current times and 'attempt' at saying that 'hey, the film is still about 21st century and is not a period drama', references to call centers, shopping malls, politicians, rock culture etc. are thrown in for not really a good measure.

In the end, you just don't understand the intent behind the tale. Yes, the pseudo intellectuals can bring out their scissors and try to shred the movie layer by layer to explore the real essence of the film but all of that seems too self-indulgent, purposeful and forced.

This leads one to a question that what's the use if a story can't tell itself in those designated hours? Why does a viewer have to back home and spent almost a week to understand why, what and how about a film? Are we really patient to be doing so? Were we ever so patient to be doing so?

Probably after a week I too would have something to talk about this film. Maybe I would have managed to explore the germ behind this tale? But then would you be patient (and willing) to listen?