Time and again there have been instances of acclaimed film makers returning
with a story that defies the stereotype and give audience something
different. National award winner Goutam Ghose is one such director who is
back with his film titled ‘Yatra’. Though the film had reached the finishing
line early this year, the makers opted for the right time before bringing
the film to the mainstream theatres.
Film’s central protagonist is Dashrath Joglekar [Nana Patekar], who is a
writer by profession. He belongs to the Adilabad district in Andhra Pradesh
and heads the family of four which comprises of wife [Deepti Naval] and two
children [Romit Raj and Anandi]. Though he is loved by his family, his son
doesn’t really like to read his father’s works and is fonder of contemporary
music. But at a later stage in his life, a few incidents take shape that
make him finally take an interest in his father’s work.
Dahsrath is on a train journey to Delhi to receive the prestigious ‘Elegant
Sahitya Samman’ award for his novel ‘Janaza’. In the train he meets a
co-passenger [Nakul Vaid], a filmmaker who admires his work. The visionary
in him feels that the subject like ‘Janaza’ could make for an interesting
film! Now that was quite a possibility since the novel’s main protagonist
was a beautiful coutesan by the name of Lajvanti.
Though Dashrath and his co-passenger part ways after the train trip, an idea
about reconstructing the possibly true story about Lajvanti doesn’t go away
from Dahsrath. He receives the award but soon finds himself in search of the
real muse of his story.
In short, he is off for the ‘yatra’ of his lifetime.
The old characters from his last novel fail to leave him alone and it
doesn’t take much time before his own life gets mingled with the characters
of his novel. Since Dahsrath doesn’t return home for a long time, his wife
sets out in his search and finds herself standing at the backstreet home of
the dancer.
The dancer is none other than Lajvanti [Rekha], a courtesan – Dahsrath’s
central protagonist of his work. Lajvanti is a singer-dancer from
Benaras-Lucknow who is as enigmatic and mysterious as Dashrath’s character.
No wonder the writer in Dahsrath becomes obsessed with her.
As per director Ghose himself, “‘Yatra’ is a multi-layered film with the
writer Dashrath traveling from one place to another. There are two layers to
the film – the visualization of the filmmaker and imagination of the writer.
So, the creative processes of both come to light. The dichotomy between fact
and fiction is also depicted because, in any writing, you combine fact with
fiction – you base your ideas on things that are real, sometimes unreal and
sometimes surreal. It’s a combination!”
The film is about how fiction meets the facts; ‘Yatra’ has some exquisite
cinematography and costumes that create a breathtaking world, reverberating
with Urdu music. Also today’s generation gets a chance to see Rekha in the
role of a courtesan, something that she immortalized in ‘Umrao Jaan’.
‘Yatra’ is a superb must-see film, in which award-wining director Goutam
Ghose elicits powerful performances from his acclaimed cast. Ghose’s sharp
scripting and direction gradually build the drama into an electrifying
sequence of events where fact and fiction tensely oscillate.
‘Yatra’ is expected to arrive in the month of November.
RS PREDICTED RATING: 4/10
EROS
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