Highway : Unrealistic.. but Poetic Excellence

After a long time there is a director who has really evolved with every film. Imtiaz Ali promises to be the one who can give Hindi mainstream movies the identity that was missing. The depiction of the human characters, their individualism, their growth (by learning or making mistakes) is indigenous & portrays the intellect and knowledge of the director regarding human beings. Hope he continues in the same way even if (hope not) success fails him. From "Socha Nahi Tha" to "Jab We Met" to" Love Aaj Kaal" to "Rock Star" & now "Highway" he has grown considerably. The films have started to show the mindset which we find in a Ghazal or Sufi Song. There is a philosophical touch to the story/human characters in Imtiaz's film. Yes there are some unrealistic angles but that's the zone of the creator, that's the freedom of the poet & his poetry.

Picture Courtesy : www.google.com

The story is a one liner--a high society girl in Delhi gets kidnapped by accident just before her marriage. Her journey with the kidnapper is the central theme. Travelling is one the integral components of the film along with the establishment of the human characters and their relationships. The way all these things have been integrated along with the visual pleasure of the Himalayas takes the film to great heights. The journey of an apparently dumb looking city girl re-discovering herself amidst the natural background, the journey of a kidnapper re-inventing the situation which led him to such a world justifies the movie name beautifully. (From the name whoever feels of watching a thriller should restrain himself/herself from going to the movie). For a change A. R. Rahman's music does not look out of place. The climax scene is subtle and far from melodrama. Most of the scenes are unique--some for their visual treat, some for the connect of the human emotion & nature.The scene where Alia is sitting in front of the gushing water is something special. The mingling of water & human emotion is indeed very special. This is not a love story, it is a story of acknowledging human emotions and respecting that in the correct place.

Performance wise Randeep Hooda is outstanding. The scene where he rediscovers his past through the girl is excellent and the restraint and intensity with which Randeep displays his emotion is beyond words. Alia Bhatt from Student Of The Year to Highway---she is completely different, looks more confident and has easily got into the skin of the character. From the talkative immature girl to the intense person she is spontaneous and brilliant and hardly appears a new comer to the industry.

People who are interested to spend their "outing time" in a movie theatre will definitely not like this as it will be beyond their capacity and their will to grow as an audience. I got a good glimpse of that in a popular multiplex of Noida Sector-18. The public reactions specially during the intermission was horrible. The 1st half which was developed in some sort of documentary/real type way to establish the characters was inviting even wild thoughts/reactions from the audience. Majority likes to see larger than life things---dialogue-baazi, glycerin scenes, blinking love stories, irritating over smartness--referred to as comedy. Story, performance hardly has any significance. The 100 crore business stuff, the build up to such a movie with stories of how long an actor has prepared his body/physique for a particular role, the costumes of the actresses & the dance numbers are far more significant & worth to the mass of Hindi film audience. This has been a story of Hindi films over the years. The result ---- some of the potential directors had to turn to conventional stuff to earn their living/fame after some failures at box office. Hope things mature with time !!!

Sir Alex Ferguson & Sachin Tendulkar

2012 & 2013 saw the retirement of 2 very influential sports person from their respective fields. While for Sir Alex Ferguson I was able to see his last match as Manchester's manager live (in my friend's house on his large TV screen) but for Sachin Tendulkar I could manage only highlights and news clips. 

 

Two very contrasting personalities and two very different jobs yet so much influence on the game. Sir Alex, with his typical manners represented a man who would go wild at the shortest mistake of the players, never afraid to criticize officials, opponents--a totally arrogant image. Even within his team Alex used to have ego issues with rising superstars like David Beckham & Christiano Ronaldo. On the other hand Sachin, clear & humble image, never involved with any criticism, never any ego issues with his teammates. Alex is the most successful football team manager, Sachin the single most successful individual for a team game and a perfect team man.

Looking in a critical way the fact that these 2 men survived so long (more than 2 decades) speaks of their talent and impact. In a world which demands top performance all the time it takes something special. The motivation behind such prolonged career must have been special. People who had been or are in the same business for sometime can tell what really it means and why it is so special. Normally a very good cricketer will have 10-15 years, and a football manager can last few seasons, in some cases only few months for a club, forget 25+ years. For Alex the job was perhaps tougher (than Sachin's) as it is always difficult to motivate a bunch of players (which kept changing from season to season) with someone else's vision and specially for a club game where the players are from different cultures and the aims and ambitions are easy to vary. To form a single unit definitely is a tougher job. Impact of Sir Alex on English Premier League, more so Manchester United is same as Sachin to Indian cricket. In modern days two decades is a very long time for things to remain constant, and in sports dynamism is rapid. But Sir Alex & Sachin have fitted into these changes very comfortably and carried on with ease.

But here I don't want to compare, criticize or celebrate their achievements or discuss my opinion on them (though none of them feature in my list of favourite player or manager). Even their influence on the game needs no further discussion. What to me looked similar and special was in both cases the respect they earned from their team, the men who had been with them for years. For any individual calling it a day, in whatever profession he or she is, there can be no greater satisfaction or achievement than to see the true support, love & respect the colleagues have had over the years. Those moments are priceless and defines what the person has been over the years. These two men have been involved with so many colleagues from time to time yet the respect they commanded from all is outstanding. Magnanimous might be the correct term to describe the legacy that will be left over, good or bad this cannot be ignored in history. Media attention has definitely contributed to this but new standards have been set for times ahead and this time very stiff ones.