Take A Turn Down This Highway

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.