From Reel Journeys to Real Itineraries: Cinematic Mobility and Cultural Geographies in Tikdam

Abstract

The role of cinema has expanded beyond narrative entertainment in the present time vis-a vis cultural studies. It an extension of the medium that cultivate travel, giving an opportunity to realize one own self and experiential learning by locating palces. The notion of “travel by cinema” illustrate the dialogic interplay between on-screen and off-screen journeys, whereby spectators traverse not only geographical terrains but also emotional, cultural and ideological landscapes. This paper examines how the film Tikdam enacts this “screen-to-scene” transition, inviting audiences into imaginative and affective mobility. This mobility is a sense of thoughts and vision. The story of Tikdam, set in the hill town of Sukhtaal, foregrounds the tensions of ecological precarity, rural–urban migration and the possessive attachment to local landscapes, which operate as metonymic spaces of discovery. Drawing on cinematic tourism theory (Gibson, 2006), spatial narrative and cultural geography (Bruno, 2002; Lukinbeal, 2023), this paper expounded that the narrative of the Tikdam eloquent forms of cinematic mobility that subside the remoteness between spectatorship and lived understanding. Such works exemplify how cinema generates affective itineraries (Nanjangud & Reijnders, 2022), permit spectators to chart cultural topographies and even create real itineraries from reel journeys.