Alia Bhatt has hit the ball out of
the park. If Highway is a cricket match, then she has hit sixer after sixer,
ball after ball, over after over for the entire match. She is a champion, all
right, a champion actress.
The Baby Bhatt’s maturity of
performance should put to shame all the number 1s, 2s, 3s and whatever in
Bollywood. They should realize they are nothing but pretenders if they can’t
top what this very young, newly minted actress has achieved in Highway.
After the patently unreal and
unIndian Rockstar, Imtiaz Ali has changed gears and vroomed down a very Indian
highway, and with splendid results. Unlike Rockstar, which never struck a true
note despite the engaging first half, Highway never loses its way in a slice of
the maze of Indianness that is sought to be captured.
The first half is near flawless but
the second half, though uneven, rides high on Alia’s astounding performance
that seems to go from strength to strength. Be it crying, loving, teasing, shouting,
singing or dancing, this slip of a girl never fails to ring true. The sincerity
of her performance is a rarity in Hindi cinema, perhaps not seen since Smita
Patil’s outburst in Sadgati or Shabana Azmi’s excoriation in Ankur. This girl
will be an able successor to these illustrious actresses if she picks her films
with care in the future.
What’s more, Alia has also sung
(Sooha Saha) with admirable efficacy – for the first time. This is a voice full
of promise. Surprisingly, her father Mahesh Bhatt was not aware Alia could
sing.
Talking of songs, A R Rahman’s music
for Highway is, like Rockstar, a mixed bag. Patakha Guddi by the very young
Nooran sisters is clearly the best of the lot. Sooha Saha by Alia is a charming
lullaby but by no means a cakewalk. Maahi Ve by Rahman himself is an uplifting
song but sadly comes at the very end of the film.
Imtiaz’s return to form, which
appeared to be on the wane after Jab We Met (2007), is evident in the very
realistic first 15-20 minutes. The wedding video beginning is a deft touch,
which is briefly but unnecessarily revived later in the film. He does fall back
on his favourite plot point of an ailing heroine here too (remember Geet and
Heer). This is clearly an emerging pattern.
Highway has no real story to tell
but the smooth narrative, the engaging vignettes of semi-urban India, and the
powerful performances catapult this road movie into a different category.
Randeep Hooda, a much underestimated
actor, intelligently lets his performance be the perfect foil to Alia’s
brilliance, never once trying to steal her limelight. We need to see more of
this underused actor.
But make no mistake. Despite Hooda,
Rahman, a visually unusual India and Imtiaz’s new-found realism, this is Alia
Bhatt’s movie. Highway would not be the same if anyone else had played Veera.
This movie justly deserves a 9 on
10. If you haven’t watched Highway yet, shame on you.
