Folkroad, an eight-part docu-series created by Vipin Mishra, brings together his love for music, motorcycles and travelling, besides being a celebration of his friendship with actor Satyadeep Mishra. It’s exclusively premiering at the Red Lorry Film Festival (on April 7), BookMyShow’s latest IP, scheduled to be held between April 5 to 7 at Maison PVR and Maison INOX at Jio World Drive and Jio World Plaza, respectively. The first episode of the docu-series explores the stunning landscape of Zanskar Valley in Ladakh. t2 chatted Vipin Mishra who has self-funded the project.

Tell us about the making of Folkroad?

There were two clear parts, one was the concept, which entailed our adventures on a motorcycle to far corners and in search of local music. The concept has been on my mind for years. As far as the making is concerned, believe it or not, it all came together on Instagram. I started posting requirements for our DOPs, a skill set that’s most critical because documentaries are difficult to shoot. The mode doesn’t offer retakes or scripts, and it’s difficult. Beyond that I had a clear idea of how I wanted it to look, and I wasn’t sure if I’d get what I wanted. However, so many people reached out and they said they’re interested. We found two DOPs —Prabhdeep Singh from Calcutta and Ashish Sasane from Pune — and once we had them, I knew the project was on. We went on the adventure and searched for local music in the valley of Zanskar with nothing pre-planned. It took a lot... we needed cameras, portable generators, camping gear, a backup truck, gimbals, and on-field recorders, and a lot of research went into it. I hit my friends up from Trekking Voyages (a trekking company) and reunited with my trekking buddies, got a generator from Manali and set out on a whim. And that’s what went into the making of Folkroad in Zanskar.

How did you find out about the nomadic music of Zanskar?

Zanskar was chosen not for its nomadic music because Folkroad is a concept to explore off-the-track destinations... where two-wheelers can go and there can be some dirt biking. The idea was to go deep and find this music which otherwise wouldn’t make it outside their community or would take years to find. Zanskar presented maximum resistance. It was the most difficult terrain to test the idea of a motorcycle adventure in search of music. I thought if Folkroad could be done in Zanskar, it could be done in any part of the country. Music is everywhere, there’s no tribe or culture without music, it was more about the terrain.

How much time did you invest in the project?

We rode there in June 2022 and I started prepping two months before that. It took us about 18 to 20 months... beginning to end.

How did you find the musicians on the project?

We did not pre-schedule anything and that was the concept — “do not fake this”. We decided to ride the valley, and wherever we found habitation, we spent some time there to find out about the music and, in some places, we found it, but in some cases, we didn’t. For instance, there’s this monastery in a valley cut through by the Tsarap River and it was a trek of 12-kilometre to and fro. I wanted to go there as the monastery is believed to be 1,200 years old; when we reached there, we saw one or two kids. They shared that the monks were gone for 10 days. It’s a part of the story and documentary that you search and, at times, you find things, sometimes you don’t. We captured moments of a Kurgiakh village wedding and, to our surprise, the music made it as the OST of Folkroad.

Do you think their local music might reach a global platform with the premiere on Red Lorry?

I hope it does. Will it? One can never say! We’re competing with anybody and everybody and social media is taking the bulk of opportunities, and there are positives to that. We’re yet to see real opportunities being created unless it’s provided by somebody who has the resources. I hope Red Lorry Film Festival will pique people’s interest in our project.

How will the local music of Zanskar interest viewers?

The music of that area is nomadic and is unlike the music of any other state or folk music. The music of Zanskar is sporadic and free-flowing because it is essentially the voice and dhamang, which is a set of two drums, one with a high pitch the other with a lower pitch. It is a much bigger version of the tabla but is played with sticks and then there’s the pipe instrument called sorna made of walnut wood and has a mouthpiece. When I came back and heard it I started to notice beautiful patterns and melodies existing in the framework.