Director: Imtiaz Ali
Writer: Imtiaz Ali
Stars: Alia Bhatt, Randeep Hooda, Durgesh Kumar
Pluses:
Randeep Hooda is intense and delivers knockout performance with very few dialogues, Alia is good but inconsistent, breathtaking cinematography by Anil Mehta, couple of good sings by Rahman
Minuses:
Uninspiring screenplay, Imtiaz Ali disappoints as director for the first time, dialogues are unintentionally funny, stretched climax
Critic Rating:
3.5/5
Business Rating:
1.5/5
Verdict:
Watch it for beautiful visuals of interiors of north India
Imtiaz Ali has made his name as the next big director as far as romantic genre is concerned. His debut film 'Socha Na Tha' was touching sweet tale and 'Jab We Met' announced his arrival as master of genre. 'Rockstar' was first truly Sufi love story liked by critics and audience alike. Now he is back with his latest offering with rather unusual cast and settings.
Movie Review
To start with, film has nothing to offer in terms of story and screenplay. A daughter (Veera Tripathi played by Alia Bhatt) of rich influential man kidnapped by Haryanavi gujjars from a petrol pump in outskirts of Delhi. How Veera develops emotional attachment with her kidnapper and how this journey in interiors of north India let her discover her own self form the rest of the story. Climax has few incidences but nothing surprising.
Performance wise Randeep Hooda stands tall and delivers knock out performance. He has hardly handful of dialogues but his eyes and expressions talk loudly. His act has unique finesse which deserves applaud. Alia Bhatt moves into unknown territory of solid performance based role after glamorous plastic debut with SOTY. She tries very hard to be next Geet from 'Jab We Met' but she remains inconsistent to say the least. She is good in few scenes which will evoke laughs but she falls short especially in intense shots.
Highway Music Review
Music is usual Rahman stuff which looks too good when you listen but with the flow of the film it just adds here and there but never rises to the level of expectations. Except 'Pathaka Guddi' not a single song registers. Cinematography by Anil Mehta is top notch and might win him few awards. Dialogues and screenplay are the weakest links in the film and suffers from over-smartness or laziness best known to director. Dialogues are unintentionally funny at places. We never come to know when Veera turns into a free soul from being tormented in custody of kidnappers, both characters have troubled past which not only looks cliche but forced.
But it is director Imtiaz Ali who tries to deliver a film more in the space of his friend director Anurag Kashyap but at the same time tries his best to infuse typical Imtiaz Ali moments. He fails to create any sort of magic this time around.
That is why still few critics (or most of them) will rate this good but masses will be disappointed with this bore 2 hour pointless saga where cities are shown as cruel place and villages are the heavens, height of being cliche!
Film will release in two days time but box office prospects of the film will be dim. Film will find it tough to score at box office though exceptional reviews and niche audience in metros might take it to some distance.
