Friday, May 1, 2015

Why film maker is "Chasing the (Royal Enfield) Bullet"

Chris Zahner is
"Chasing the Bullet."
For Royal Enfield, it's going to be a remarkable film.

The working title is "Chasing the Bullet," and its young American film maker is traveling through India to experience and document the culture that builds, rides and celebrates the Royal Enfield Bullet.

He calls his film "A people's history of the motorcycle with the most interesting story ever: the Royal Enfield Bullet; frozen in time for six decades."

Aditya Phadke recently interviewed film maker Chris Zahner for his blog, Motonomous&Co. Aditya's lengthy post gives Zahner a chance to explain why he's inspired to make a movie about Royal Enfield.

It comes down to something like this: Zahner is a bike builder himself, with a deep respect for people who go their own way and do-it-themselves. He senses a kinship in India's attachment to Royal Enfield, from CEO Siddhartha Lal to the street-side customizers who break the law to re-make the Bullet by their own lights.

Read "Why Is Chris Zahner 'Chasing the Bullet?'" on Motonomous & Co. for the full story.

To experience Zahner's technique, view "Making of Chasing the Bullet — Part 1" on YouTube. It's terrific.

But to really get on board with Zahner, ride with him through rush hour traffic in Chennai on Bharadwaj's modified Royal Enfield Continental GT.

It's awesome!

3 comments:

  1. woo-hoo!........way more balls to do that than most of us, including me. I like the Continental GT with the scrambler handlebars. Get a clue, RE. They work on that bike.....offer it as an upgrade package with that 750cc engine lurking in the wings. Very cool video!

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  2. Where can one find info on Bharadwaj's modified Royal Enfield Continental GT? I first saw this video shortly after it came out, and enjoyed comparing traffic conditions to riding between Soacha and Bogota - something I have some experience doing. It wasn't 'til asking on the US Royal Enfield forum about the "heresy" of customizing a Continental GT by doing similar mods that someone pointed out to me the obvious - he's riding something similar to what I was contemplating.

    Are you aware of any place on the 'net were one could find the build details on that bike?

    And THANK YOU for providing this resource for info on Royal Enfield bikes! I've really enjoyed reading different articles on the subject on your site.

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    Replies
    1. The YouTube video is full of inquiries wanting to know the same thing. All I can tell you is that Bharadwaj is an individual and you can see more of him and his work at this Instagram page here: https://instagram.com/thebeatboxmachine/

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