When you meet Alia Bhatt's Veera the first time in 'Highway', you will find her a meek, disillusioned girl swarmed with the kind of luxuries only multi-millionaires can afford. Hence, when you are told the reason she was sulking all this time is that she would rather enjoy the natural breeze as opposed to being the daughter of such a business tycoon, you WILL have a hard time believing her entire "gypsy-soul" act. That's because of her 'Shanaya' image from SOTY playing in your mind all this time, which is in direct conflict with her character here.
And this is where Imtiaz Ali pulls out a superb trick from his Director's hat. Instead of giving Veera a lot of dialogue early on, he gets her gagged and roughed up by her kidnappers, specifically Mahabir (a terrific Randeep Hooda) and it seems to do the trick- by the time she gets to speak another line, you would have already bought into her character. The way Imtiaz handles silence in this movie needs to be seen to be believed.
Once I was reading one of Naseeruddin Shah's interviews and found something interesting in what he had said. On being asked who from the current crop of actors he enjoys working with, he had mentioned Arshad Warsi and Randeep Hooda. Seeing Arshad Warsi's form in the 'Ishqiya' movies, that single statement from Naseer was proof enough for me that Hooda's work in 'John Day' will be nothing short of breath-taking.
And he doesn't disappoint here as well. His sulking is not on the surface; it's his twisted understanding of an equally twisted world that has him tied up in knots. When he says that he intends to auction Veera off at a brothel, it's to get back at the rich for exploiting the poor. When he snarks at Veera, it's to ward off any attempts from her to get too close and personal.
There are atleast two shots of wide landscapes that I would give my left arm for. One is a star-lit plain of parched earth that Veera runs across, and the other one where she sits down on a sand-dune between birches, with rain-drops pattering around.
And what a comeback by A.R Rehman! I was getting sick-bored of his Sufi brand of music which have been, frankly, quite repetitive since 'Delhi-6'. So imagine my surprise when he hit it out of the park with a superb bhajan early on, and a fantastic soul-stirring lullaby later. Terrific background score as well from Resul Pukootty.
All in all, a nice movie to dig into. Not your usual com-com, mind you. In spite of everything, my mind just keeps wandering back to what impact Alia would have had, if this had been her first movie.
P.S- One of my friends had his eyeballs dug into his tablet's screen the entire movie. His underlying motive behind accompanying me to the movie hall was to see if there was some sleazy action in the film. His one-sentence instruction to me was- "Call me when they make out." Unfortunately for him, this was not that kind of movie.
Any of you interested in checking out a movie with the sole objective of getting cozy, visit any hall playing- 'Darr @ the Mall'. The halls are empty and the movie's boring enough to get your date do anything as opposed to staring at the screen.
And this is where Imtiaz Ali pulls out a superb trick from his Director's hat. Instead of giving Veera a lot of dialogue early on, he gets her gagged and roughed up by her kidnappers, specifically Mahabir (a terrific Randeep Hooda) and it seems to do the trick- by the time she gets to speak another line, you would have already bought into her character. The way Imtiaz handles silence in this movie needs to be seen to be believed.
Once I was reading one of Naseeruddin Shah's interviews and found something interesting in what he had said. On being asked who from the current crop of actors he enjoys working with, he had mentioned Arshad Warsi and Randeep Hooda. Seeing Arshad Warsi's form in the 'Ishqiya' movies, that single statement from Naseer was proof enough for me that Hooda's work in 'John Day' will be nothing short of breath-taking.
And he doesn't disappoint here as well. His sulking is not on the surface; it's his twisted understanding of an equally twisted world that has him tied up in knots. When he says that he intends to auction Veera off at a brothel, it's to get back at the rich for exploiting the poor. When he snarks at Veera, it's to ward off any attempts from her to get too close and personal.
There are atleast two shots of wide landscapes that I would give my left arm for. One is a star-lit plain of parched earth that Veera runs across, and the other one where she sits down on a sand-dune between birches, with rain-drops pattering around.
And what a comeback by A.R Rehman! I was getting sick-bored of his Sufi brand of music which have been, frankly, quite repetitive since 'Delhi-6'. So imagine my surprise when he hit it out of the park with a superb bhajan early on, and a fantastic soul-stirring lullaby later. Terrific background score as well from Resul Pukootty.
All in all, a nice movie to dig into. Not your usual com-com, mind you. In spite of everything, my mind just keeps wandering back to what impact Alia would have had, if this had been her first movie.
P.S- One of my friends had his eyeballs dug into his tablet's screen the entire movie. His underlying motive behind accompanying me to the movie hall was to see if there was some sleazy action in the film. His one-sentence instruction to me was- "Call me when they make out." Unfortunately for him, this was not that kind of movie.
Any of you interested in checking out a movie with the sole objective of getting cozy, visit any hall playing- 'Darr @ the Mall'. The halls are empty and the movie's boring enough to get your date do anything as opposed to staring at the screen.
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| Highway: Road movie, in sketch |