(Contains spoilers)
While Highway is definitely
taking a different route (no pun intended) than being one of the mundane Indian
movies thanks to the acclaimed direction of Imitiaz Ali, it fails to deliver a
strong message due to its very prominently feeble plot holes. Mainly to this
fact in one hand Highway stands up to be a great film and on the other hand it’s
a disaster.
The story is fresh to the Indian
cinema. A rich girl who gets kidnapped by a gang ultimately finds her freedom of
mind through her kidnappers and eventually becomes fond of the gang leader. It’s
a straight forwards plot and become a bit predictable down the line. But the
plot it’s steadily developed and the events are rolling out without creating
too much distraction.
Speaking of the good of Highway,
the number one attraction is the cinematography. It’s like you have taken a
road trip across India and the sites are beautiful. Right from the start till
the very end the movie goes through different geographical locations and each
one of them has a certain glory to deliver. Apart from that each camera angle
and scene is complied with great care which make Highway a mind pleasing movie.
And then comes the good acting. The girl Veera is skillfully played by Alia
Bhatt and this seems to be her best performance so far for being an actress who
has few titles under her belt. The gang leader Mahabir is played by Randeep
Hooda who has done several powerful artistic roles earlier seems to have a
perfect fit for this role. As for the plot goes I’m not entirely pleased of the
way the whole plot works out but it’s a key reason why I watched till the end.
It is not bad but it’s not great either.
As I mentioned earlier what makes
Highway week are the plot holes. There are few very prominent ones. For example
except for the gang leader the rest of them seem to be very nice chaps. They
are all smiley good hearted people. This is fundamentally wrong. They leave the
kidnapped girl in a room full of equipment hand untied and doors unlocked. And
when she flees she fails to find a proper way out get exhausted and comes back.
But on the next day a member from the gang leave the place get on a train and
vanishes without much effort. Later on the gang including the head of the gang Mahabir
(criminal mastermind and murderer) starts to trust this girl more than they
should. This is also highly unlikely. They expose themselves and the girl to
the public in many occasions. After many other minor plot imbalances comes the
great blow. The police appear from nowhere and shoot Mahabir without warning. I’m
not sure how the Indian police handle a kidnap rescue operation in real but at
that point they actually kill the movie. It is understood that someone
important has to die at the end but the way it happens is a complete let down.
And it’s very clear that it is forced drama there onwards. And finally though I
very much fond of Rahman’s magical music in Highway it kills the mood. Some songs
barge in when you least expect it and it takes away the complete tone of the
plot away.
The above negativities could have
being easily ignored if Highway was a typical Indian movie. But the problem is
it’s not and it’s supposed to be a very serious one. So there shouldn’t be any
room for doubt. So Highway swings from a typical Hindi movie to a different
drama over and over again. And the fans left with confusion.
Origin: India in Hindi
Genre: Drama | Romance
Director: Imitiaz Ali
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