The Road Ahead

His last hit was English,August in 1994. The irreverent director,Dev Benegal,who vanished from the scene after his film Split Wide Open sunk 10 years ago...

His last hit was English,August in 1994. The irreverent director,Dev Benegal,who vanished from the scene after his film Split Wide Open sunk 10 years ago,is back in the limelight with his Road,Movie. On the sidelines of the Cannes Film Festival,the movies global distribution rights have been bought by Fortissimo Films,a major film-distribution company based in Amsterdam.

This is great news. Very few Indian films get this break from big,international distributors, says Tannishtha Chatterjee,who stars in the film along with Abhay Deol,and Satish Kaushik. The 28-year-old has just returned from Cannes after meeting Michael J Werner,co-chairman of Fortissimo Films. He was ecstatic after seeing the rough cut of the film, adds Chatterjee,who was representing the film in the French city,as Benegal is currently wrapping up post-production work of the movie in Los Angeles.

The 98-minute drama,which has been shot in the deserts of Gujarat and Rajasthan,revolves around Deols character Vishnu,a driver who embarks on a journey across the Indian landscape with his truck,which is actually an old travelling cinema. Along the way,he meets three people who hitch a ride with him and enrich his life with their stories. Chatterjee plays a widowed tribal woman,knowledgeable about the desert. The film has earlier tasted success with an award at the Cannes Film Festival script writing workshop in 2006. They worked with a French crew and Ross Katz,producer of Lost in Translation,and Susan B Landou. The producers are aiming for an October release in India.

Chatterjee,based in Mumbai,earlier acted in Brick Lane and is now shooting for Bhopal: A Prayer for Rain starring Mischa Barton,Martin Sheen and Kal Penn. She will soon be off to London for shooting another film with Brick Lane director Sarah Gavron.

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