Dev Adhikari in Chander Pahar (Shree Venkatesh Films)

Chander Pahar (Mountain of the Moon) is an adventure story based on a famous Bengali novel from 1937. It’s also the most expensive Bengal film ever made. So, in a sense, it’s swinging for the fences. The result is a muddled yet always entertaining adventure yarn.

The story centers around Shankar (Dev Adhikari), a young Indian man who fulfills a lifelong dream of journeying to Africa. Once there, he encounters what one would generally expect to encounter: man-eating lions, poisonous snakes, and a bout of prolonged desert thirst. There are also some unexpected forays reminiscent of Irwin Allen’s The Lost World (1960).

As a whole, the film is quite entertaining, particularly once it actually reaches Africa, where the danger and adventure begin and Shankar starts having his mettle tested. His transformation from gullible, naïve young man to hardened adventurer is sweet and touching. And his relationship with the Portuguese adventurer Diego Alvarez (Gerard Rudolph), who becomes his friend and mentor, has a lovely feel to it. Rudolf gives Alvarez a delightful spin, playing him like a less gruff, more caring older Sean Connery type. The scenes between Diego and Shankar are the high points.

There are some not so minor flaws, though. Dev Adhikari, as an actor, is not going to give Daniel Day-Lewis a run for his money, though his performance grows on you over the length of the film. The score makes John Williams seem like the master of subtlety. The special effects are on par with an almost passable SyFy channel film. And the first 20 minutes, set in India, are painful. It pretty much consists of Shankar gazing moonily at his parents who gaze moonily back. It’s like watching two puppies staring at each other for an interminable length of time.

But once Shankar reaches Africa, the film upticks considerably. We watch him take on the aforementioned lion and go on a search for the mountain of the title, which, as legend has it, is rife with diamonds. And of course, no one who has ventured toward it has ever come back alive. And finally, in a test of resolve, he crosses the Sahara with nary an ounce of food or water.

Essentially, Chander Pahar is very much like Shankar: sweet-natured, awkward, curious, confident, and adventurous. Even with it’s considerable flaws, I recommend this film. Its roots are in classic tales like Gunga Din and Robinson Crusoe. It does the tradition proud.