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Yatra  Director: Gautam Ghose
Producer: Bipin Vohra
Starring: Rekha, Nana Patekar, Nakul Vaid, Deepti Naval, Raima Sen, Romit Raaj, Masood Akhtar, Anandi Ghose
Music Dir: Khayyam, Gautam Ghose
Singer: Asha Bhonsle, Udit Narayan, Alka Yagnik, Talat Aziz, Jojo, Keya Acharya, Shuvra, Aditi Bhattacharya
 "Mahatma Gandhi is the most understood and misunderstood person…" the expressions carries the burden of deprived India, declining moral values with the spirited sensibilities of the writer who mellows himself into the characters of his story. This novelist has passion for realistic facts and he often experiments by getting into the skin of his written characters. Director Gautam Ghose's theatrical presentation 'Yatra' is all about one writer's obsession for his creativity and his creation that finally takes his life. There are few who dared to experiment classy subjects with full modesty, aesthetics and sincerity.
'Yatra' brings out tryst of a writer for his factual satisfaction to the destination where he meets his real character. The journey of prominent writer shows the changing facades of cultural backwardness, demeaning women status in modern India. The second aspect of 'Yatra' is the beautiful but unfortunate story of a gorgeous courtesan who happens to be the lead protagonist of his story. The story works as a monologue at many places where both these characters narrate their experiences, feeling and sacrifices in modest ways. Now this may sound theatrical to the core, but still the film maintains its space and reaches its finale in a tearful way.
Earlier it was M.F Hussain's 'Meenakshi' that had the same characterizations but with a different outlook and treatment. In 'Meenakshi, the renowned writer suffers from "writer's block" but the hurdle is crossed when he meets his inspiration in the form of a beautiful girl "Meenakshi".
In 'Yatra', the characters works on similar fictional caricatures but their outlook, circumstances and treatment are entirely different. 'Yatra' is a journey of coveted writer (Nana Patekar) for his character "Lajwanti" (Rekha) who forms the soul inspiration for his famous work "Jaanaza" (dead body). Multiplexes audiences may find it hard to digest but such subjects hardly erupts from the under belly of Bollywood.
 Even Sanjay Dutt - Aishwarya Rai starrer 'Shabd' tried to be artistic, imaginative and creative in its presentation but the concept never found fancy of the audiences. Films like 'Yatra', 'Shabd' and 'Meenakshi' are tailor made celluloid works for class audiences and their acceptability cannot be accounted on its box-office reports.
'Yatra' works more on expressions and less on its contemporary styled scripting or screenplay. The film is about prominent writer Dasrath Jogelakar (Nana Patekar) who has been acclaimed for his literary work "Jaanaza". He has the love, care and affection of wife Sharda (Deepti Naval) and two grown up children's. He is invited to Delhi to accept literary award function and there he meets enthusiastic filmmaker (Nakul Vaid) in the train. Dasrath narrates his heartfelt feeling and expressions for his story "Jaanaza" and his character "Lajwanti". The flashback shows the plight of Lajwanti (Rekha) who is humiliated and tormented by her rich and wealthy husband. Satish (Nana Patekar imagining himself as Satish) rescues her from this adversary and shelters her. This may confuse average viewer as the writer puts himself in the place of savior. The story takes another turn as Dasrath receives the prestigious award and lands at Lajwant's place. His family is shocked at his disappearance. Dasrath tries to re-live the aura of his imaginative life with Lajwanti. On that fateful day he encounters his death as the story ends as his last journey ("Jaanaza"). 'Yatra' ends on an abstract note and this proves to be biggest dent of the film.
It has voices, sounds, notes and rhythms of classical Indian music that gives it substance that carries the theme with full flair. Rekha, the evergreen Bollywood diva re-lives her "Umrao Jaan" attire with full supreme and flamboyance and makes it a credible show. The film stands out for her physical elegance, graceful dancing skills, facial expressiveness and immaculate acting skills that makes her as the evergreen diva of tinsel town.
She excels where every beautiful actress would not dared to step in. Even the porcelain beauty Aishwarya Rai failed miserably as a courtesan in J.P Dutta's 'Umrao Jaan' and the film proved to be biggest disaster of the year. Despite of her aging looks, Rekha's charming dancing skills along with refined classical musical work captivates the eye-balls and makes her picture perfect for the role.
 The dance sequences "Jaam-e-Mohabbat", "More Ankhiyan Bhool Gayi (Pilu Thumri)" and "Dareja Dareja (Bhairon Thumri)" shows her mystic charm and sheer scintillation in classical dancing. Veteran music director Khayyam along Gautam Ghose creates a magic that enamors the spirit of the film.
Nana Patekar's performance proves to be another big surprise element of the film. This method actor matures gracefully as he handles his character brilliantly in all aspects. Nana is stereotyped as a cynical and hysterical actor but this time he matures as sensible and literate writer. In the climax, where he discloses his feeling for his character "Lajwanti" to Rekha shows his acting prowess. The scene where he shows his concern over declining moral values at Raj Ghat is another high point.
Despite its plus points there are many weak links and cracks that make it an average show. Director Gautam Ghose ethics in plagiarizing off beat subject into celluloid are well supported by good performances, excellent cinematography (Gautam Ghose) and effective choreography (Saroj Khan, Saswati Khan). Costumes (Neelanjana Ghosh, Sutapa Bose) are bright, scintillating and well crafted for the film. Dialogues (Nida Fazli, Rashid Iqbal) stand out as another bright factor that works impressively in sentimental phases of the film.
The loose points lie in its story telling and narration that may confuse an average viewer. The film flashbacks and flash forwards at many places with no major link ups. The writer (Nana Patekar) getting into the skin of the character of savior (Satish) will sound abstract to the viewers. Secondly, Nana imagining her daughter to be humiliated in call centre, his son bruised in riot and her associate being intimate and finally getting captured on cell phone shows no relevance with the script. Finally it's the abstract end of the film that proves to be biggest villain of the film.Nana's dead body is carried away in a truck and his wife (Deepti Naval) making her presence at Rekha's place ends the film. The end may be theatrically feasible to the writer and director but contemporary Bollywood viewer does not have the intellect or aesthetics to connect with it. It's an actor's delight film where both leading actors rejuvenate themselves as competent artiste otherwise it's too theatrical to digest.
 The ineffective screenplay, abstract ending and low promotion will make the prosperous journey difficult for the film. It will find difficult to survive as the film faces toughest competition from its biggest contemporary Hollywood's 'Spiderman -3' (dubbed in Hindi also). It has grim hope of survival and will finally fade to oblivion with no big noises.
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