Review of movie The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir

×

Rating:3.5/5

When a young Aja or Ajatashatru (Hearty Singh, child actor) living with his single mother (Amruta Sant) realizes he is actually poor, he takes it upon himself to change the course of his life. He spends his time after school, showing tricks to tourists in exchange for some money, sometimes even hoodwinking them into parting with a little more than they intended. 

Years later, when his mother passes away, Ajatashatru (Dhanush), decides to travel to Paris to trace his father, a French magician. He rustles up a flight ticket and with a fake 100 Eur note and a passport, lands in Paris. A series of events take over to make his journey nothing short of fascinating – from a brewing romance with Marie (Erin Moriarty) to mistakenly travelling to London in a wardrobe with illegal immigrants for company. Being deported to Spain and then landing in Rome hidden in a large suitcase on a chartered flight with an actress, Nelly (Berenice Bejo). There is even a hot air balloon ride with macaroons and champagne, and a ship to Libya thrown into the mix. Yes, there is heavy dollop of magic realism here and if one can suspend disbelief and surrender, it makes for a fun watch. 

While at some level the film deals with the conditions and dire straits of illegal immigrants and refugees, and brings through a few poignant moments, it essentially follows Ajatashatru’s adventures, his tryst with chance and karma, and of course his love story.All through, director Ken Scott keeps the mood light and frothy with emotional moments and laughs weaved in. While it does succumb to a few exotic tropes when set in Mumbai, the film has a ton of color, comedy, music and Bollywood style song and dance number bunged in, to keep it chugging at a neat pace.