Movie Review: Highway..derails post interval

 
Highway starts off giving visuals to a nice idea. The initial development is taut, tense and realistic. An interesting revelation leads to an intriguing interval. Post interval there is even a bit of Breaking Bad’esque magic. And then, silence…we are quite clearly lost after that

Highway could’ve been made so differently – a little more focus on the rear view window to give a solid context to the road ahead and the journey itself would’ve come into its own. It would’ve removed the need for the path to be so meandering and the pace to unnecessarily slow down. The message would’ve been subtle yet screaming in silence, the agony obvious to the viewer..but I digress..that’s not what has happened

The reality is that the second half will take you on a picturesque journey, never mind the story. If you’ve been postponing that vacation to our very own Paradise on Earth, you’ll likely pursue it with renewed vigor after watching Highway. The sprawling landscapes and snow capped peaks make for many a pretty sight. Then the dreams would end and the story would culminate to its by now, inevitable conclusion.

After Rockstar, Imtiaz Ali seems to have done it again. A promising start is let down by a sense of abandon towards the original script in the second half. Much like Rockstar started as a journey of a musician and his coming of age and then digressed to a forced love story, Highway too starts off with a unique idea and then digresses to something else entirely. Given this context the climax is still quite decent but the message is shouted out rather than felt

I am not sure why A R Rahman has given the music for this movie. In my view, the script didn’t require music in the first place and any songs would slow proceedings and take away from the realism of the visual drama. Still as it stands, there are songs and none too great to stay with you after the movie (but then Rahman’s songs have their latent effect so who knows)

What is commendable though is Alia Bhatt’s ability to pull off a rather tough role, in only her second movie. Kudos to her to even consider such a role so early in her career and even more to have performed so well in it. The innocent yet independent teenager she plays may come naturally, but the varying shades her character takes through the course of the movie would take some doing. Randeep Hooda is good but he is on all too familiar grounds with his angry brooding avatar. He could take a leaf from Alia’s book and try something more challenging

Highway then, lets itself down. After a promising start to an intriguing adventure, the course of the journey disappoints and there isn’t much to cherish once you reach the final destination