Road To Sangam - Review

Dir : Amit Rai

India 2009, Hindi

The movie starts with an Urn being take out of the Orissa State Bank locker and moves on to change the location to Allahabad, with a fast panning to introduce parts of the city to the viewer. Between a sufi song in the background we’re introduced to the group of men, obviously Muslims in present day India. Here we meet , Hashmat Ullah  who has to repair an old V8 ford engine that once carried the ashes of Mahatma Gandhi. But the local community leaders call for a strike in reaction to arrest of young muslims and their killing. Hashmat Ullah is caught between the love for his country and loyalty to his community. To top it all, the old man is one among the leaders within the locality.

But for Hasmat Ullah, patriotism rules over the feeling of communal loyalty. In his decision to repair the V8 ford engine, the man goes through a struggle against his own community as he’s almost disowned by them at the face of it. But the surprise comes when, even while denying to talk to Hasmat Ullah in broad daylight, the muslim brothers get together in the night after being persuaded by Hashmat, to do their part in getting the engine working.

Paresh Rawal, playing Hashmat Ullah convinces the viewer of his dilemma so well that by the end of it, it felt like I myself was a part of his struggle. Also,I like a particular dialogue by a rickshaw wala in the movie when asked by Hashmat Ullah if it wrong to do one’s work during a strike, he responds saying this is India, not “Pakistan or Taliban” to say that free thought is the right to each Indian.

The movie also throws a question on why terrorist attacks lead to suspicion on Muslims. A message here is delivered that Muslims in India chose to stay here, they chose India as there motherland and should or are loyal to it.

A couple of scenes I particularly remember is the birds eye view of Paresh rawal being alone in a huge empty expanse portraying his being left alone and a frame where he sits on the terrace with his back facing the camera.

What I also find nice are the interveneing shots of  the pot carrying Gandhiji’s ashes , shown with Hashmat Ullah’s story, both stories meet at a confluencing point. The pot first taken from the bank locker, over River Kaveri, the Yamuna bridge – New Delhi, National Highway 12.

The role of the press is well emphasized, and how they hype up events is shown. It  is at an interview with NDTV at the first place that Hashmat Ullah comes to know that the V8 engine belongs to the V* for that carried Gandhiji’s ashes.

We see a repetition of Gandhi’s Satyagraha when Hashmat Ullah is ready to give up food and sleep and to sit outside the shop till he gets the key back. He is singled out in his community.

I see the use of Kites being used to send messages as representing spreading the word beyond boundries.

The movie ends with, the Urn being placed on the vehicle as Church music plays in the background and the whole of Allahabad forgetting religion, revering the pot of Ashes as the Ford vehicle moves through the streets on its road to Sangam.