Why you should watch "Highway"

There are road movies, there are more road movies and then there's Highway. For the 100 years that Indian cinema has existed, the number of road movies that have been produced in India have been very minimal. A quick internet search will land you with not more than 3-4 search results. The prominent ones being, the Abhay Deol starrer "Road", the official Indian entry (Foreign Language category) to the 2014 Academy awards, "The Good Road", the multi starrer "Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara" and then there's this recent Imtiaz Ali directed, Alia Bhatt, Randeep Hooda starrer "Highway". Question arises what is different with Highway. In fact why Highway? In a very Indian context, Highway apparently is one of those Indian movies which celebrates Indian landscapes in their raw and pristine form like never before.

Anil Mehta's sheer genius is visible in each and every frame captured- the dusty Indian roads, the snow clad mountains, the vast green fields, the dry yet clearly beautiful rocky terrains, the winding alleys, the gurgling streams....there's so much visual delight on screen that once the theater lights dim you cannot take your eyes off the screen for the sheer beauty of the views, enhanced with A.R. Rahman's beautiful score,captivates the audience imagination like no other movie in the recent past. Every frame captured, every beautiful scene flashed on screen receives a collective gasp of awe from the audience. The movie indeed lives up to its name- "Highway". The star in this movie indeed is the great Indian roads....the Indian highways, not just as stretch of concrete for facilitating transportation but as a way of life, as a window for freedom, freedom from the captivity of the current times, of its pretence, of its hypocrisy....

Shifting focus to the story, one cannot go into the theater expecting this particular movie to be a repertoire with plot twists and turns. A very basic idea is what the film is spun around. Rich girl kidnapped, held hostage for ransom, fallout between gang members for the fact that she is from an influential family and might mean their end, girl left to go but returns back to her captors for she does not want to be a part of the urban humdrum again. In short the tagline says it all- "In bondage, she found freedom". But it is the simplicity which draws one to this movie. There are underlying emotions bursting in each frame and the actors do enough justice to their roles. Randeep Hooda as the brooding and heartless kidnapper, Mahavir Bhatti,with a hard childhood as a scar on his memory has finally landed in a role which justifies his talent as an actor. Those intense stares, the unkempt look, the unrefined tone of speech and the crude behaviour makes him so real life on reel that for the time the movie runs you cannot really make out that this is exactly the man who has looks to die for. Hopefully post Highway he'll not have to go through ordeals like Jism 2 again. However the revelation in this movie is Alia Bhatt as Veera Tripathi, the rich girl kidnapped. After a candyfloss and out and out Karan Joharish movie like "Student of the year" the audience were sceptical about her being cast opposite an actor like Hooda. The fear was- What if she treats it like another candyfloss? For the only way Alia Bhatt can be imagined is in a red dress prom dancing to "Disco deewane" or a sequined ghagra and neon choli for a very Bollywood "Radha". But the Bhatt girl delivers. Delivers with the intensity the role demanded, in keeping with the reputation of a Imtiaz Ali movie. Veera is both vulnerable yet strong, tattered by a difficult childhood amongst people who feign themselves in each and every situation, those who live a life of hypocrisy. Hence she finds freedom in captivity....Not all of us might identify ourselves with Veera but somewhere in human mind there always is this intense want for freedom, of doing exactly what we like with no worry in the world, no restraints, no bounds and the confidence that the other will take care of it no matter what.

Highway can be called an attempt at filming a case of Stockholm Syndrome and Imtiaz Ali might as well take a bow for an attempt well done! You never really make out if the captor and the captive actually fall in love in the colloquial terms but yes they share a bond, unsaid but existent- of confidence and mutual care. Sometimes the truth indeed can be hidden just underneath the veil of ruggedness. Comfort of dwelling may not always mean a comfort of the human mind which might be tormented like those souls during holocaust (RIP) and love does not always mean the possession of the other. It is the revelation of self in the presence of the other.

In short watch Highway for the sheer beauty of Indian landscapes, for the complicated yet beautiful concept of love and the unbridled want of the human soul for freedom....

My ratings- 8.5/10