Manthan

Taking a break from technology, this post is devoted to my other passion “Motorcycling”. Gaurav Jani’s documentary “Riding Solo to the top of the world” wins the top honors at the MIFF (Mumbai international film fest). It won the Nation critics award and the Golden Conch for the best documentary at MIFF.

Riding Solo To The Top Of The World is the unique experience of a lonesome traveler, who rides his motorcycle all the way from Mumbai to one of the remotest places in the World, the Changthang Plateau, in Ladakh, bordering China.

Situated at an average altitude of 15,000 feet, Changthang covers almost 30,000 square kilometers of Ladakh. A land devoid of roads and with temperatures that dip to minus 40 degree Celsius in winter.

Gaurav is very well known in Indian Biking community and he started 60kph motorcyling club, which is an all India motorcycling club that takes biking to the extreme and dare to go where no other man or wheels dared to go. All members ride the Royal Enfield Bullet, which they consider as a fellow traveler than a machine. Riding Bullets sometimes has its own disadvantages like reliability but most riders know their machines inside out and all always ready for a quick fix if the bike breaks down.
What is incredible about the documentary is that it has been shot by Gaurav all alone, with no camera man or other stuff. So you can actually re-live his experience through this documentary.
I haven’t myself seen the documentary, since its not out yet. There were couple of screenings in India for the members of biking community and Gaurav is still trying to find a suitable buyer for the film. Discovery, Nat Geo are you listening ? The reaction for the documentary I gather from the fellow riders is just one word “Speechless”.
Heard the soundtrack of the movie and its just amazing. It is very apt for the theme of the movie, “Riding Solo”. For some idea about the terrain in Ladakh, here are a couple of teasers from 60kph.

Update : Gaurav has now put a teaser of the documentary up on the website. You can watch it here .

Here is the youtube video