Wildlife researcher Dhruv puts Daniel Defoe’s novel Robinson Crusoe into his backpack as he sets out on a survey – a foreshadowing of the ...
Wildlife researcher Dhruv puts Daniel Defoe’s novel Robinson Crusoe into his backpack as he sets out on a survey – a foreshadowing of the relationship that is central to Bharat Mirle’s Tamil-English film The Road to Kuthriyar. If Crusoe, the fictional adventurer, slave trader and castaway, struck up a life-altering friendship with the man he calls “Friday”, Dhruv too finds his Man Friday in the form of his tribal guide, Dorai.
Bharat Mirle’s debut feature fruitfully explores the unusual bond that emerges between the young and pony-tailed man Dhruv and the older Dorai. It’s an unequal partnership, captured by Dhruv’s description of Dorai as “my assistant”, dictated by Dhruv’s needs and Dorai’s compulsions, complicated by language (Dhruv speaks passable Tamil) and influenced by technology. Dhruv records his adventures in English in the form of vlogs, itself an act of privilege.
The vlogs are included in the 115-minute movie, and provide another foreshadowing for Mirle’s bold turn towards non-fiction. The Road to Kuthriyar, which has been premiered at the Busan International Film Festival, moves between fiction, fiction inspired by actual characters and conversations, and pure documentary.
Mirle began his filmmaker career in advertising, later veering towards documentary. “I was more into storytelling, and I liked...
