/> MOVIE DETAILS

Road To Ladakh
Cast: Irrfan Khan, Koel Purie
Director: Ashvin Kumar
Music: Susmit Sen

THE FILM

It's a pity that after watching Road To Ladakh, what you end up remembering is a steamy scene featuring Irrfan Khan and Koel Purie, the lead protagonists of the film.

Coming towards the film's pre climax, the sequence is in fact quite long drawn and is the most explicit ever that one would have seen mainstream Bollywood actors indulging themselves in.

Not just that, towards the end of it all, there is also this extended shot where a male butt holds centre-stage (literally) as the camera freezes for those 5 odd seconds. While the face is not shown, it is suggested that the butt you just saw belongs to Irrfan Khan. So a question to the talented Khan - 'Was it really you Mr. Khan? 6 years back?' Did I just say 'six years'? Yes, indeed six years, because it is after such a long time gap that this festival film has arrived on home video.

Frankly, there was no clue or pointer being thrown around direct-to-DVD release of this film this season and the first reaction was that of a pleasant surprise. Reason? For a layman, you would hardly know that the film was made more than half a decade back.

Moreover, the makers have very smartly hidden the release time period of the movie by only mentioning the festivals that Road To Ladakh had been to; not the 'years' when this happened!

So what one gets to see is this really abstract film (even by today's standards) when two jeeps keep meandering along the roads of Ladakh while continuing to tease the audience into following the journey of the ones in the driving seat.

Till a point of time, it is still OK as you let the mystery grow around you with both Irrfan as well as Koel seemingly carrying a mysterious aura around them.

But then after a while, impatience sets in, something which is not helped by a screechy sound design (don't have a clue whether it was intentional or an effect of show string budget?) since a chase sequence was never as hammering on your ear drums as evidenced here.

With Irrfan and Koel being two strangers coming together and spending those few minutes in lust, there is this sudden end that leaves you entirely speechless.

Agreed that Road To Ladakh has been made in a short film format and one can't expect (and should not be as well) a conventional way of story telling. Still, it's the lack of sense and logic behind the tale which is more exasperating than its culmination.

PACKAGING

The DVD comes in a regular plastic case

DURATION

The film's duration is 45 minutes (Yes, 45 mins. It's a short film!)

SPECIAL FEATURES

- An added 15 minutes short film titled 'Little Terrorist'

- Making of 'Road To Ladakh' and 'Little Terrorist'

If Road To Ladakh was an excruciating affair then have a look at another short film (in fact even shorter) Little Terrorist. Now this one is merely 15 minutes long and even though the DVD cover proudly proclaims that it was an Academy Award nomination 4 years back, hence making you slightly biased, the end result is hardly that would make you begin recommending the DVD to all and sundry.

Ok, you really want on? Then take mine, because this one is yet another ordinary tale of a boy who crosses over the border from Pakistan to India, is taken care of a family out there for a few hours, and then returns to his motherland. Picture khatam, kaahani finish!

What is ironical though is to see the making of the two films. Guess what, the 'Making of 'Little Terrorist'' is longer than the film itself!

To give due credit, both 'Making' segments remain true to their intent as they take a viewer through the journey of films being conceptualised to casting to location hunt and other related technical aspect. But frankly, when one is put off by the movie itself, who would be interested in going through their making?

TECHNICAL DETAILS

- 16:9 Anamorphic Widescreen Presentation
- Subtitles in English (only for Hindi dialogues)
- Dolby Digital 5.1

PRICE

Rs. 125/=

CONCLUSION

Picture samajh nahi aayi. And I am sure the director of the film would be more than willing to sit down and give a shot by shot account of the entire 45 minutes affair but what's the point in seeing a film on screen when it has to be explained in person by someone?

Rating: *1/2