HIGHWAY

 
RELEASE DATE: February 21, 2014
DIRECTOR: Imtiaz Ali
CAST: Alia Bhatt, Randeep Hooda
RUNTIME: 2 hours and 13 mins

‘Highway’ is a problematic film. Elements in it have great beauty – starting with Anil Mehta’s cinematography. The film was shot and improvised as the cast and crew drove across six states. Mehta’s camera caresses the changing terrain so that audience can taste the bleached salt pans of Rajasthan and the crisp air of Kashmir.
There is AR Rahman’s soulful music and above all, Alia Bhatt’s performance. There are two scenes – one a long monologue – in which she lays bare her soul and becomes utterly broken. It is deeply moving. Her honesty and courage, both as actor and character, is exhilarating.
Writer-director Imtiaz Ali is one of Bollywood’s most original and interesting storytellers. Here he courageously goes off the formulaic star-driven, song-driven path and returns to his favourite genre – the road movie.
Imtiaz gives us a portrait of two damaged souls who, through a journey across north India, help to heal each other. So Veera Tripathi, an affluent Delhi princess who lives in a mansion, ultimately finds peace in the arms of Mahabir Bhatti, a rough criminal. The idea of a victim falling in love with her kidnapper is not new – the Stockholm Syndrome in which the hostage forms an emotional bond with the abuser has often been cinematic fodder, especially in Hollywood.
But here, it is both uncomfortable and unconvincing. Veera becomes relaxed around her kidnappers fairly quickly. After her initial horror, she behaves like a friend, chatting and laughing. The film posits kidnapping as therapy. It narrates that there is nothing terrible in being abducted. Given the horror inherent in the situation, this just feels false and fundamentally wrong.
Imtiaz skillfully creates moments that are at once, tender, funny and fragile. But the problem is that the story in not convincing. And yet, both Veera and Mahabir will stay with the audience. The characters are compelling and intriguing. Randeep is extremely effective as the brutalised and brutal Mahabir. - See more at: http://magtheweekly.com/22-28mar2014/reviews_1.asp#sthash.BNJxyUeV.dpuf