‘The traveller sees what he sees; the tourist sees what he has come to see’, quotes the
21-year-old UC Berkeley-undergraduate (in anthropology and pre-medicine) Samantha Jo Fitzsimons, as she zooms off on a bike with 37-year-old city-based neuroscientist, Mauktik Kulkarni in the trailer of Riding On A Sunbeam, Journeys Through Space, Time, Life And Love. Helmed by the National Award-winning director Brahmanand Siingh, the 108-minute film showcases the existing paradoxes in India through the journey of the backpacker duo, across 10 cities from Mumbai to Nagaland. “The film captures an immersive experience of the myriad contrasts of our vast country, be it triumph and despair, conservative and libertine lifestyles or cases of economic empowerment and total neglect. It also captures the hope and optimism and tells youngsters to pack bags, backpack around India and discover it for yourself,” says Siingh, who won the national honour for Pancham Unmixed: Mujhe Chalte Jaana Hai, a feature-length documentary on RD Burman. Co-produced by Mobius Films and Kulkarni, the film will be screened at Andheri’s Brewbot pub as part of Project O’s mid-week movie screening event.

Dr Prakash Amte (Baba Amte’s son) and his grandson playing with a leopard in his animal rescue centre at Hemalkasa in Gadchiroli, Maharashtra