HIGH ON 'HIGHWAY'

'Implosive Silence' , the music piece that was played at various junctures in the film, plays on my mind as I write this....

The end credits started rolling at 1:37 p.m.  My hands were shivering, I was breathing heavily. 

Clearly, Imtiaz Ali's latest film had done something to me. What? I don't know. It's been a few hours since I watched 'Highway' but I am yet to figure that out. Actually, I don't want to know what this feeling is. Just like the female protagonist of the film who discovers a new world, is confused but one thing she knows for sure-she is getting to see a world which is refreshingly different from the world that she has been living till now. The world which, on the surface seems to provide her all the security, comfort that she needs but as one looks deeper into it, one finds it to be as shallow as it gets.

Imtiaz Ali is one my most favourite Hindi film directors but his last two films (as a director) , Love Aaj Kal and Rockstar, though boasted of some terrific dialogues, moments et al left me somewhat underwhelmed. I found the screenplay of both the movies, more particularly that of Love Aaj Kal to be incoherent but being a fan of the two movies (Socha Na Tha, Jab We Met) he directed, the films that he was associated with as a writer (Ahista Ahista, Cocktail) and having seen and liked some his work on television, I keenly looked forward to Highway.

Having seen the 45 min episodic Highway ( under the umbrella show Rishtey) that Imtiaz Ali had made almost fifteen years ago, I had a basic idea of the plot but I was surprised to see that most of the original script was retained in the movie. Most of the scenes in the first half ( in terms of writing ) were familiar to me but that's where the treatment came into the picture that truly distinguished it from the TV film/episodic. While the TV episodic was reasonably well made, the financial constraints, the restricted time frame and various other factors made it look like a rushed up job. One can't really blame the filmmaker there. One thing that stood out in the TV version was the fact that it boasted of terrific performances by the lead pair Aditya Shrivastava and Kartika Devi Rane. While I had huge respect for Randeep as an actor I did not think too highly of Alia's acting capabilities. Add to the fact, that she was going to reprise a character that was originally played by Kartika Devi Rane ( last seen in the 2008 film Hulla ), who happened to be my most favourite actress at one point ( I'm still a huge fan; remember 'Captain Vyom', 'Hum Pardesi Ho Gaye', 'Kangan' ? ). The scenes that are similar to the TV version are as follows : (P.S Have tried to keep it as spoiler free as possible)

•     The first one is the obvious- Veera being kidnapped by Mahaveer and his gang members while her fiancé looks onhelplessly, blaming her for the same.

•     Veera suddenly disappearing from the truck; the dialogue that follows
•     Veera making a startling revelation about something that happened to her as a child
•     Veera hiding inside the truck at the toll gate
•     Mahaveer setting Veera free but she refuses to go

 Imtiaz is one of the most respected filmmakers in our country today and given the fact that he had the complete freedom to bring forth the story that was lurking within him for years, exactly the way he wanted to, I knew that film version was going to be far more superior than the TV version.

 Highway depicts the journey of two individuals, coming from two completely different strata of the society, each of them bearing the scars inflicted upon them by the same society they lived in all their lives and how they understand each other's pain, the pain which brings them together.

While the TV version was primarily centred on Veera's character, the filmmaker gives fair ( if not equal) importance to the male protagonist in the film version. Though the characters played by Aditya and Randeep are pretty much similar, Aditya was named Vijay in the TV version while Randeep here is called Mahaveer Bhati. While Vijay had no back story, viewers are given an insight into Mahaveer's childhood so as to explain or rather justify his present. Randeep's character, undoubtedly, is far more layered than Aditya's character. As I pointed earlier, the overall treatment of the subject matter is very different from that of the TV version. The quality of the screenplay, for one,  is several notches higher. The TV version had a somewhat convenient, unconvincing ending while this one has a heart breaking but brilliant ending. Must say, the penultimate fifteen minutes are the highpoint of the film.

A.R Rahman have always carried this reputation of delivering music that is true to the movie's theme and Highway will be remembered as one of the foremost films to validate this fact. While 'Rockstar' had music which stayed true to the film's theme yet had mass appeal, 'Highway' has music that, though soulful, will find it tough to climb the popularity charts, even if the movie does well. The minimal background score works well for the film what with the most dramatic scene in the film plays without any background music. Anil Mehta, the veteran cinematographer who has lent his expertise to some of the most iconic films over the years, does some of his best work here. Be it editing, sound design...the film is a technically superior product.

One almost runs out of adjectives describing Alia Bhatt's performance. She delivers a performance that one expects from a seasoned performer. Her nuanced performance lends multiple layers to Veera, doing complete justice to Imtiaz's vision.. Just one film old and she gets the role of a lifetime! Randeep, as always, is terrific but how one wishes his characterization, though fairly well defined, were as layered as that of Veera's. The supporting cast, each one of them, was very good. The actor playing Randeep Hooda's associate, the one who accompanies both the lead characters in their entire road journey, deserves special mention.

Highway turned out be one of the most important cinema watching experiences in my life. I felt a sense of liberation within me. The film depicts what this cruel world does to its people-the circumstances that force an innocent child to become a hardened criminal, the society which silences a nine year old and makes her feel like being the culprit when she, in fact, the victim of sexual abuse.

 It's a film which will linger in my memory for ever. I don't know whether this film will be loved, hated, remembered, forgotten....all I know is that watching this film has turned out to be one of the most defining events of my life.