Rediscovering India

How do you make a documentary on India? # show a lot of colors # show a lot of street people # show spicy food # fill the background with a lot of local music # let there be dust and cattle filling the streets and your film # have a VO that guides you along the film # pick up one element like cuisine of clothes and cover it well # show poverty

and a few more such regular elements and you have a documentary film that wins accolades. I expected the same form this when I went for a screening. No. This is different. This is about a group of people going around the country in a car which is almost a derelict now, with no ideas preset about how to make this documentary. They just shot what they saw and heard.

Patched it up with the five people narrating the trip, and some amazing music, which thankfully sounded Indian as well as international. I laughed when I heard the first song. Indian film's are famous for their multitude of songs and this one has 11 of them. I liked some of them. Found some of the songs a waste.

A little too much of driving in the film. I would have liked them to stop and shoot the places more. But the visuals were very nicely shot.

Good film with a dose of entertainment throughout and a very simple yet novel presentation of India. A lot of aspects of India were uncovered but a lot of others which are ignored by other films were pleasantly there in the film.

2 hours later all i felt was - this was a fun way to look at India. Documentary?

I have enjoyed watching Rediscovering India for its naked emotions and a honest story narrated as it is. If you don't watch documentaries, you should try watching this one for its stories with uncountable colours, emotions, myths, tradition, culture etc. It has some of the very beautiful shots and and wonderful songs. It is no less than a Bollywood movie just missing the star factor. The stories are simple and narrated with a sense of belonging. The characters are brought up in a beautiful light. Although more places could have been covered. Places less heard of should have been considered. Even after spending so many years in India, travelling through ten states from the north to south, I still could feel the difference in which it has portrayed India. Overall it was a good effort.

I always thought of leaving my house and go wander in the country to discover what I had not seen yet. The wilderness around, the people who seemed mob to me but were so much more at the same time. The roads, the towns, everything that was visible. Everything that was felt. Rediscovering India was a representation of that thought of mine. This film will make you emotional at times and will make you laugh at other times. It will give you a feeling of togetherness with complete strangers. These five extraordinarily simple people take you along the roads of this country that welcomes you with its stories. They didn't go for the obvious, as most of the filmmakers do. They picked up stories that nobody thought of covering. They talk with people nobody generally would talk to. More than anything else, they treat with respect what usually is ignored and forgotten in the hustle bustle of our lives. I found my lost eye towards the people of India who were there, always, but never seen. Thank you to the team for taking this effort of filming the extraordinary lives of ordinary Indians.

When I started watching the first thing that crossed my mind was yet another travelogue…but no it was truly a re-discovery from the point that for the first time I felt there was so much colors in India which we as Indians, sometimes take for granted but now I feel like flaunting it. It's a movie that every Indian should watch and should feel proud of. The music is excellent. Overall it was a feel good experience… Not only does it bring a fresh perspective to the whole notion of this being a country of varied and vivid cultures but also reinforces the fact the to experience it you have to travel through it..... So having seen this, through this filmmaker's eyes I plan to retrace their steps to understand and experience it my way... So here's bon voyage....

There have been many times I have had ideas. Some good. Some weak. Never worked on any of them. Then I saw the film "Rediscovering India" at a friend's house. I am not a film fanatic. I have never enjoyed documentary films much. I have never been very interested in India. But I loved this film. I loved that this film was fun to watch. I loved what they showed in the film. I loved how they showed it. It is casual. It is a little amateurish in its feel. I think those things work for this film. I loved the songs. I loved the photography. I am in awe of the people who made this film. That brings me back to the beginning. What this film has done for me is to tell me that anybody can do whatever they feel like doing. I hope young people in France - my adopted country, or in Poland, where I am from, think of making a film like this. This film gave me the strength to believe in small dreams of mine and big dreams too, when I have them. And, now I want to see more documentary films. This film has converted me.