Yatra
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.