Autohead

It starts off weird and wrong, but they try to keep the rules of faux documentaries. So the fact someone is in the car filming becomes a side note. But it's important, especially when stuff happens and the people keep filming instead of reacting and doing something about it. Not to mention character moments that will make you cringe very audible while you shake your head in disbelief.

The whole thing feels more fake than a reality TV show. And while there was a time when people actually thought Reality TV was real, that time has past. And the "characters" do tend to act in strange ways. You just don't do those things and it gets annoying to watch. While the sentiment is clear and I do applaud people trying stuff out, overall the result is not satisfying

For those who don't know about this new genre, a mockumentary is a good mix of scripted/fiction based content and documentary format. I saw AUTOHEAD at MAMI Mumbai Film Festival 2016, when I saw this film I was blown away with this experience as before this film I had not seen any mockumentary film I had seen a mockumentary as a web-series on YouTube but not as a film. As the screening that I attended was a premier and so on the Director & Actor were present for the Q&A session post the film, so when the film got over and I saw the lead actor Deepak Sampat in front of me I could not believe that he is the same person who played Narayan as the experience of watching this mockumentary was so surreal that I somehow forgot that it was a scripted content. As this is one of the indie films I must say that the Director, camera & sound team was so in sync with each other that they somehow convinced me that it is a documentary and everything that I saw see is real for me that whole experience is just so Surreal that I think AUTOHEAD was one of the best experiments of last year's indie films. While writing this review I made sure that I don't mention any spoilers, cause I want people to just experience this film as it is.

Autohead is a fine movie when we look at it in a experimental cinema point of view, but the problem with the movie is when director Rohit Mittal projects the film as a "reality tv" sequence with some rather confusing scenes & dialogues in between. It is absurd on the directors part to sell this feature as reality tv. I consider "Autohead" purely as an experimental parallel cinema with the director too playing a character in the cinema "who believes he is shooting a reality tv".

Cinematography & sound is as good as any parallel cinema around. Screenplay laced with profanity, vulgarity & violence rules the roost. Acting and dialogues by non regular actors adds to the film's authenticity. I wish the director was more clear in his work to present this film through the story. On the other hand I also strongly believe that the director deliberately adds the confusion and he too is just a part of the story. If that's the case hats off to you sir.

Overall, a confusing and a bizarre fest made strictly for parallel cinema audiences. If one views "Autohead" as a pure experimental cinema, it's a decent one time watch for its sound recording and the plight of migrant labourers in our Metros. The regular lengthy scenes without cuts are a threat to every movie lover.

The lead is phenomenal, movie is shot very realistically. Being from UP it was refreshing to see an accurate depiction of our language. The bhojpuri is spoken with such ease that it doesnt come across as caricaturih at all. Overall, an extremely novel, slightly disturbing concept we learn from and take forward. Mainstream bollywood, learn something!!

Watched it few years ago and still remember how scary it was, this is the new generation of indian cinema