You will be very surprised to read and find that this post has nothing to do with India or Indians, it is also not a movie review, although I talk about a movie named: "World's Fastest Indian". That is because I have tried to narrate the movie as a short story to convey a very important message.
Burt Munro played by Sir Anthony Hopkins is a poor old man who lives in the city of Invercargill New Zealand. He is a nuisance to his neighbors as he never maintains his lawn, keeps his house and yard dirty, often pees on his lemon tree and creates a hell of a noise every morning trying to tune his motorcycle. The man lives alone, has a heart ailment, gets a small pension and has a handful of friends, the best friend being a little boy who is his neighbor's son. Burt tells his little friend about his obsession with speed and that particular motorcycle he owns, which is a 1920 Indian Scout (made in America, Indian was a brand of motorcycles built at Springfield Massachusetts) which was constantly modified by Munro in the past 20 years to make it go quicker. He has set several speed records in New Zealand and a few in Australia. Burt's ultimate ambition is to go to USA where at the Bonneville salt flats he intends to set the land speed record for a motorcycle.
Being a very poor man, he has to mortgage his house to get enough money to pursue his dream, he is also helped by an old lady friend and by the head of a motorcycle gang with whom Burt had raced before. Burt sets off to America with his motorcycle on a cargo ship where he also works as the cook. On reaching the west coast of USA, he buys a used car and sets off for Utah to reach the Bonneville salt flats. From his arrival in the US and till he reaches Utah, Burt runs into several interesting characters - A transgender motel receptionist who helps Burt in LA, a used car salesman who is kind to Burt and also appreciates Burt's ability to repair cars, a native American, a Vietnam soldier and an old lady who lets him sleep for a night. Finally Burt makes it to Bonneville with his motorcycle which he towed behind his car.
Upon arrival at Bonneville, Burt finds to his disappointment that he will not be allowed to run his bike as he did not register for it in advance, however his case is pleaded by a fellow racer and a few rag tag friends friends that Burt made at Bonneville, finally Burt and his Indian Scout are allowed to go on a practice run where he will be chased by the officials on other cars to determine if he can actually control the bike considering his age and the state of the motorcycle which has hopelessly inadequate safety features.
They do not expect Burt's rickety old bike to go past 70mph. On the test run, the officials follow Burt closely up to 90mph and just when they think the motorcycle has run out of juice, the bike begins to pull away and goes so fast that it stuns the officials. The officials are so impressed that they agree to bend the rules and allow Burt to run and set official records. Back at the camp site, the people at Bonneville surprise Burt by donating money for his speed crusade, they realize that Burt is poor yet a determined old man who has traveled from New Zealand to pursue his dream and this herculean effort should not go waste just because Burt didn't have enough money.
The old man goes on to make history clocking an incredible 201mph, although he burns his leg very badly. The records is still good and Burt becomes an overnight hero in the US and also at his home in New Zealand.
The movie "World's Fastest Indian" is a very good movie, it becomes clear from the way the story progresses that it was not meant to be a commercial success, it is more of a docu-drama to bring out the amazing true story of Burt Munro, yeah, that's right, Burt Munro really did exist and some of his speed records set at the Bonneville salt flats are still there. Sir Anthony Hopkins has done an amazing job playing Burt Munro, in an interview he said it was the easiest role he did as it came very naturally to him.
The movie is a must watch for motorcycle and car enthusiasts, however the message in the movie transcends motorcycles or cars or even countries or continents, the message here is to pursue one's dream no matter what, we all are different and there are certain unique qualities we were born with and if we know what we can do best in this world and if that makes us happy then we must go for it, there will be rough times, there will be tough times but in the end good things will happen.
