CHENNAI: Four stories, two men, and a journey of a lifetime. These words, to succinctly put it, would perhaps encapsulate motorcyclist travelled Rohith Subramanian and cinematographer Sukesh Viswanath’s documentary — Lost and Found in the Americas, which traces the duo’s six-month-long motorcycle journey across South America.
But, thanks to a little sneak peek into the trailer, we are convinced that there’s more to the documentary film than what meets the eye. Beyond the changing landscapes and terrains, sounds of the motorcycle engines and picturesque views, we see two men, evolving as their feet wander from one uncharted territory to another, their minds get farther away from monotony, and hearts speed up the adventure road.
Serendipitous meeting
For Rohith, a 20-something-old wanderer who has often confessed to enjoying his solitude and solo sojourns, a chance meeting with filmmaker Sukesh at an ad shoot for Castrol in 2017 — just before he was about to embark on a long trip across Europe — marked the beginning of something unusual.
“I have been riding for the past five years across 50- odd countries. In 2018, when I came back from the UK, I wanted to ride around South America. The earliest memory of South America to me was The Motorcycle Diaries by Che Guvera,” he says, pointing to the book, a memoir which traces the early travels of Ernesto Che Guevara and his friend Alberto Granado.
“Ever since I got a copy of the book over a decade ago, I’ve always had a vision of travelling the continent with a friend,” he shares. But until Rohith met Sukesh, the “friend” in Rohith’s ‘Motorcycle Diary’ didn’t have a face. “Sukesh and I had hardly met thrice.
But there was a certain spark and I told Sukesh that we should do this trip together and figure out life on the go!” he recounts. Sukesh, who was then working as a creative producer in Mumbai decided to put his initial inhibitions to rest and agreed. “How could I not have inhibitions? Rohith is…the master of not planning!” quips the creative, who also doubles as a diving instructor.
“Sukesh, on the other hand, is the text-book good guy. He has to take two showers a day and wash the bike every day but I just wait for the rains to take care of both,” laughs Rohith.
But it was, perhaps, this concoction of polar opposite personalities that went on to add a certain flavour to their journey and strengthen their camaraderie. By mid-2018, while awaiting brand sponsorships, the duo, without much planning, packed their bags and landed in New York. In the second week of December, they reached Colombia and rode across the country through Ecuador and Peru.
“Between the two of us, we hardly knew any Spanish words, had almost no money, didn’t have any friends or acquaintances in South America nor did we have a plan. But the six months were quite eventful — living on the edge, documenting the journey and the people we met along the way, and dealing with personal changes too,” says the filmmaker, who returned to India in May 2019. Rohith went on to ride till Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world, before coming back to India in February 2020.
Stories on wheels
For a trip that shaped up organically, with every road bend and hairpin turn, the idea for the documentary too, was spun along the way. Soon, spotting stories of human experiences became normal.
“We never went in search of these stories; they came to us. We used to sit in town squares sipping on soda when something interesting used to unravel in front of us. Sometimes, conversations led to finding stories while other times, we found people wearing their stories on them. It was an interesting mix,” shares Rohith.
In this process, the duo captured an interesting medley of stories — from the common man’s perspective on Narco tourism and Pablo Escobar’s effect on the families in Columbia; a Spanish baker who has been on the roads for the past 10 years after quitting his job as a tennis coach in Madrid; an old wheelchair-user, who has been playing chess in the city centre of Bogota for the past eight years, after being stabbed in the spine by a mugger to a narrative about the underground graffiti scene in Bogota.
“The graffiti scene in Bogota is a cat and mouse game between the creative artists and the government. It was quite fascinating how these artists risk their life and paint as they believe in freedom of expression,” shares Rohith. But it was the story of Diego, the baker, that hit close to home.
“Before he left his home to wander, his grandmother gave him a box of yeast with which he can make sourdough bread and sell it. Now, he works two days a week, selling bread and spending the rest of the time watching the sun go up and come down as a full-time job.
He takes every day as it comes and that ideology resonates with me!” he enthuses. While the narratives were dotted with hope, renewal, and whatnots, it came with another set of interesting revelations too.
“What we see about Colombia and Pablo Escobar on the television series is quite fictitious. We were quite shocked when we learned about the common man’s perspective. For instance, Juliana, our guide for a walking tour, said that as a kid, on her way to school, she used to count the number of bodies with her friends. It was a game of sorts, she told us. Whoever spotted the maximum, won,” shares Sukesh, about instances which led them to a trail of stories about the drug trafficking crisis.
“Pablo Escobar has affected the lives of at least one person in everyone’s family there. Escobar is the worst nightmare that everyone there wants to forget but they can’t… thanks to a television show portraying him as a good man. Every day, they see someone wearing a T-shirt with Escobar’s face or talking about him due to the show,” says Rohith.
Over the past four months, the duo, along with a small team, have been combing through the 300-odd hours of footage, editing and processing the videos.
“With the pandemic, it only became harder to coordinate and there were delays in the production because of that. But, we are almost done with the post-production process and nearing release. We are excited,” shares Sukesh. The documentary is slated for an OTT release on September 8.
For details, visit Instagram pages: misfitmagellan and sukesh_viswanath