Movie Review: Highway

Director: Imtiaz Ali

Cast: Alia Bhatt and Randeep Hooda

Life is a bundle of contradictions. It’s also a cocktail of emotions. And almost always it doesn’t make sense. But it feels great when you can remove yourself from the toll of everyday chores. When you plant yourself on the beach or a mountain ledge and just stare into nothingness. Then life gets a poetic flavour. Then it becomes worth living. Imtiaz Ali's Highway leads the viewer to such destinations. Places you go to lose yourself only to find something new.

On the face of it, this is a fairly simple tale. It’s a film based on the Stockholm syndrome, that inexplicable feeling of falling in love with your kidnapper. But there are so many sublime truths, which Highway doesn’t spell out for its viewers. They appear as the journey unfolds, devoid of any cinematic tricks. Adopting a leisurely pace, as if you’re cruising down a country highway. It lets your mind conjure up the thrills. You become a co-passenger in a beaten up truck with Veera (Alia Bhatt) and Mahabir (Randeep Hooda). It’s a road trip through the deserts, the mountains and into the wild. A perfect setting to introspect and discover the beauty of being alive.

Things born from the heart tend to be imperfect. Highway is no exception. It could’ve been a more taut film with a snappier script and even a little more thrilling. Instead it’s a bare and genuine tale of growing up, feeling the warmth of a hug, the cold of the night and the comfort of being able to be free. Alia Bhatt's character blooms into so many shades that she makes you marvel at how wonderful life can be. She mutters endlessly, she cries for no rhyme or reason and she’s perfectly comfortable in the company of her rugged apprehenders. It’s because for the first time in her life, she feels alive.

Both Alia’s and Randeep’s characters behave in contrast to each other, but their backstories have the same vein of tragedy. It’s why they share a bond. That’s why, despite their circumstances, they wear their emotions on the sleeves. And here’s when AR Rahman’s magic takes over too. It’s his soulful compositions that translate their pathos and stir the right chords in your heart. In fact, the music becomes a character in the film. It also complements the scenic beauty of Highway's visuals.

Thank God Imtiaz Ali makes films. He uses his locations to depict the conflict in his story and the tumult in the heart of his characters. He even makes his actors give their best. Both Alia and Randeep give their heart and soul to Highway. Alia a little more because this eventually becomes her story. Her journey of accepting the past and embracing an uncertain future. At 20, it’s surprising how Alia has got so many deft nuances right. It’s as if the actor has grown with the character. She is truly one of the most promising new actors in Hindi films.

All said and done, films like Highway aren’t just watched they are felt.