When you sit down to watch 'The Good Road', what strikes you most is the dry landscape of Gujarat and its vastness nears the Runn of Kutch area. Pity that the film hasn't been released commercially and its brilliant cinematography cannot be enjoyed on the big screen.
But a film's camera work cannot alone save a film or put it the bracket of a 'masterpiece'. Sure there are some poignant moments in the film; some which are bound to make you smile but those aspects can't make a film worth representing our country at an International platform.
Directed by Gyan Correa, 'The Good Road' is a gamut of stories all set on a highway in Gujarat. There is a truck driver called Pappu and his aide who are given a task which is not so legal, there is family from Mumbai who are holidaying in Gujarat and travelling on the same highway and then there is a girl who, on her way to meet her grandmother, loses her way and finds herself at a brothel where girls little older than her, 'perform' every night.
The characters are stark different from each other and their paths cross somewhere in the due course of the movie. The couple gets separated from their son, who in odd circumstances becomes friends with the truck driver who is on his way to destroy his own vehicle. The little girl befriends a girl working in the brothel and coaxes her to run away with her so that she can live a normal life.
While the story is a simple one, its narrative seems too slow which makes even a one and a half hour long film tedious in some portions. Using locals to play key characters in the film, filmmaker Gyan Correa manages to keep the film as authentic as possible and yet somewhere something goes amiss. Perhaps, the overt use of sync sound, inconsistent background score or just the half hearted attempt by actors like Sonali Kulkarni and Ajay Gehi, makes 'The Good Road' a rather boring journey on the highway.
Among the actors, child star Keval Katrodia, manages to shine in his role as Aditya. The seven year old strikes up an odd friendship with the kind hearted, inexpressive truck driver Pappu played by Shamji Dhana Kerasia. There are some very sweet moments that the two characters share in the film- one where Aditya sings 'Hum Hindustani' and Pappu and his aide join in with him making them a happy threesome on the road and the other when sitting on a milestone on the highway, Pappu talks about his love for his niece who is of Aditya's age.
'The Good Road' manages to strike a chord here and there- with its beautiful camerawork (special mention for the cinematographer Amitabha Singh for capturing the expansive Rann of Kutch in all its glory) and its real life actors playing themselves in the film. But that doesn't make it a great film. And definitely not close enough to 'The Lunchbox'.
Ratings: 2.5/5
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