This time tomorrow where will we be

On a spaceship somewhere sailing

across an empty sea

— This Time Tomorrow by The Kinks

…or it could be three brothers travelling with a huge collection of perfectly matched and beautifully monogrammed luggage on a crazy ride through India with a poisonous snake, bottles of over-the-counter pills, some pepper spray, a printer and mystical peacock feathers on an opulent train called The Darjeeling Limited.

The Darjeeling Limited is director Wes Anderson’s latest offering that is a quirky and whimsical visual extravaganza, paying tribute to legendary directors like Satyajit Ray and Renoir. He represents India based on various accounts from the Beatles’ visit to Rishikesh to an average Western tourist’s impressions of the subcontinent. It is a journey that is a discovery of the self, of relationships and of exorcising ghosts.

Anderson’s sense of humour tickles your funny bone in curious ways. Owen Wilson as Francis is the oldest of the three Whitman brothers who has put the trip together and attempts to control its trajectory. His battered and bandaged face is an eerie reminder of his very recent real-life suicide attempt (though it occurred after the film was shot).

The other two Whitman brothers, played by Adrian Brody and Jason Schwartzman, put in stellar performances, the tensions between them finally getting resolved in a ritual involving a peacock feather atop a hill. The brothers squabble, reminisce, grieve and recover from their father’s death and mother’s subsequent disappearance. Jostling for space amidst all the objects that are liberally strewn around the landscape are Brody, with his deadpan humour and his uncertainties about impending fatherhood, Schwartzman, who keeps a tab on the messages on his girlfriend’s answering machine and Wilson and his dominating streak.

The short film Hotel Chevalier, released as Part One starring Schwartzman and Natalie Portman, forms a back story and provides an indication of what is to follow — along with the music, the iPod and the baggage that makes its way into the compartment of The Darjeeling Limited. Add to this a sexy Indian waitress called Rita, an act of bravery, a funeral, a monastery plagued by a man-eating tiger and a search for their missing mother and you have an adventure quest rolled into a mystical journey, undercut by subtle humour.

The score takes in The Kinks, Ray’s musical scores and a kitschy 60s track by Shankar Jaikishan.

One of the classic moments of the film comes near the end, when the brothers visualise moments of their journey, characters which they have encountered appearing in different bogeys of a train — the physical compartments representing their ‘train’ of thought.

The film has other, strangely poignant moments, like the funeral of a drowned boy and the father’s (played by Irrfan Khan) grief. There is a strange kind of humour and repetitive slow-mo shots as the Whitmans keep moving towards their final destination, rebuilding their own relationships as they make the journey through the heat and dust with their many bags — another very literal metaphor. Their excess baggage is left behind after they complete their journey.

This is a film that keeps you surprised, smiling and awaiting the next station.