Yatra

Rather slow and ponderous exploration of the nature of fiction, memory and the alleged change in Indian culture from the spiritual to the materialistic (was there really ever a time when most people weren't materialistic?).

There are some beautiful moments in this, particularly some of the music, dancing and landscape shots, but much of the framing story, set for the most part in domestic interiors, moves more slowly than the content can support.

There is some interesting layering and interweaving of different levels of reality as people from the author's life appear as characters in his various fictions, and he has a long discussion with a film director character presumably intended to represent Gautam Ghose himself.

There are references to earlier films and literature which I am sadly unfamiliar with so much of the nuance would have been lost on me. Rekha for example has played similar roles in several films over the years, most notably Umrao Jaan, so her appearance here will have a resonance lost on western audiences. (However I also detected echoes of Bergman's "Wild Strawberries" and maybe even Tarkovsky's "Mirror").

Having said that, my (Pakistani) companion unfortunately lost patience about 3/4 of the way through and went out for a coffee so I was a little distracted. My advice - don't take a Bollywood fan to see this movie!