Movie Review - One Crazy Ride by Gaurav Jani

Gaurav Jani's DVD, One Crazy Ride, finally arrived in the mail. Gaurav and his friends set out to find a way to the Himalayan state of Arunachal Pradesh, situated in North-east India. They could have taken the "real roads" through Assam, but being true adventurers, they chose to stay north of Assam and find the uncharted routes.

Like Alan Karl, WorldRider, and Glen Hegstaad - Striking Viking, Gaurav travels to remote places in spite of, or maybe precisely because he's been told that the people are hostile and the land is dangerous. Over and over we learn from other world travelers that our humanity binds us together - we aren't all that different from one another no matter what our government or religious leaders tell us.

Whether you are an off-road rider, an off-road wannabe or an off-road voyeur, Gaurav ensures that you get your fill of challenging conditions, slick mud, stream crossings, rock fields, deeply rutted paths, and a suspended bridge.

This film is different from the likes of "Long Way Round" - Gaurav is doing his own filming. Think about what it would take to film yourself riding the switchbacks up the side of a mountain. You would have to position the camera, turn it on, ride down to the point where you want to start filming, ride past the camera to the next point, turn around, retrieve the camera, turn it off, ride to the next filming point, position the camera, turn it on, ride back to your starting point, ... you get the picture. Now think about what it would take to film yourself traversing a stream - yep, you would have to cross that stream three times to get the shot and continue on your way.

Gaurav refers to himself as "an unemployed film maker" and we have to believe him because he doesn't appear to have the financial resources to acquire what we here in the West would consider necessities for the rides he does. He's riding a Royal Enfield that doesn't have off-road suspension or dual-sport tires. One Crazy Ride shows what determination and just a touch of crazy obsession can accomplish with a minimum of high-tech. After watching this film I'm more than a little embarrassed that I use my GS to do grocery shopping.

Did I mention that the photography is gorgeous? Shots of the clouds from *above* the clouds, landscape shots of the Himalayas, delightful cameos of the village folk that he and his friends meet along the way. Gaurav is a remarkable man who draws deep from within himself and is able to share his vision with the rest of us. The sequence of him riding across the suspended bridge will remain in my mind forever as a metaphor for living life to the fullest.

Dirt track Productions: One Crazy Ride (2009) and Riding Solo to the Top of the World (2006)