Filmmaker sets off for UK by car in peace mission

By Ashraf Padanna/KochiMalayalam filmmaker Lal Jose and two friends have embarked on a trip to London by car aiming to spread the message of peace and hoping to set a record in the longest intercontinental journey by road.The “longest journey in a car” was flagged off from Kochi yesterday by Jose’s star friends - Nivin Pauly, Anoop Menon and Namitha Pramod. Jose and his friends will take the message of “World Peace” to the countries they visit. Jose and his fellow travellers, author and former Dubai Port World executive Suresh Joseph and automobile journalist Baiju V Nair, plans to reach London in 75 days, travelling 24,000km through 27 countries. They will drive their SUV through Nepal, China, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Slovenia, Hungary, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Holland, Belgium, France and Ireland.“I have read a lot of books and watched a variety of films set in various countries and cultures since my childhood and it was my dream to travel through these places,” said the director of 21 films.Jose has travelled extensively to attend international film festivals in Asia and Europe. His longest ever journey was a 10-day Trans-Siberian Railway experience.“Journeys always refresh me. They give me a lot of experience and new ideas that help me in the making of films.”From Kochi they will drive down to Kanyakumari and then to Bangalore. The Indian leg also includes Hyderabad, Nagpur, Jabalpur and Gorakhpur. They expect to cross the Indian border in six days.In Tibet, they will visit the base camp of Mount Everest and Lhasa. They will offer floral tributes to Gandhi statues and meet Indian community members in the countries they visit.They plan to bring out a coffee table book and a documentary on the journey after their return.“I am looking for forward to the journey of a lifetime,” said Jose, whose films include runaway successes like Diamond Necklace, Emmanuel, Meesa Madhavan, Classmates, Chanthupottu and Arabikatha.Joseph is a seasoned traveller who entered the Limca Book of Records 2012 by undertaking a solo car trip covering 28 Indian states and the 17 Indian Railway Zonal headquarters, spanning 23,355km in 124 days. He also undertook a 14-day tour of the United Kingdom in a car, in which he also slept, for 12 days. Nair edits automobile magazine Smart Drive and anchors a popular weekly automobile programme on television. The journey will cost them an estimated Rs7.5mn which will partly be met by sponsors.