Vishnu has a bleak future before him, he must join his father in the family's oil business and try and boost the sales of the stinking oil in small town India. He sees his chance to escape by offering to transport a ramshackle truck, with a make-shift cinema, to a distant museum that lies across the expansive desert of Kutch. His companions: a chai-wallah chokra, a gypsy girl and a burlesque mechanic.
Cinematography
The Kutch desert becomes a character—vast, lonely, beautiful.
Direction
Dev Benegal's patient, observational style lets moments breathe.
Acting
Abhay Deol's quiet desperation before he was a star.
Director
Dev Benegal
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The traveling cinema truck was a real tradition in rural India called 'touring talkies' that peaked in the 1950s-70s before television killed the practice.
Dev Benegal is considered a pioneer of Indian independent cinema; this was only his second feature after a 12-year gap since his debut.
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