Highway review: Alia to win your heart

This ‘Highway' has similar old roads which one would avoid travelling again and again.Cast- Alia Bhatt, Randeep HoodaDirector- Imtiaz AliMusic- A.R. RahmanThe hullabaloo surrounding Imtiaz Ali's Highway that it will offer some of the versatile colours of our beautiful nation with his trademark Gen-X romance would have surely provoked you to walk into the theatres near you but what if you find just a holiday trip being narrated under its disguise. Unfortunately, the flick capitalizes over this quotient of an exotic and extended trip which however, is mesmerizing but sadly it has nothing else to offer you.It seems Imtiaz Ali has promised to the states like Punjab, Kashmir, Rajasthan among others to never betray when it comes to the cinematography in flick. A problem which was noticed in his last musical hit ‘Rockstar' was to be terminated in this flick. However, the love story in his previous directorial was understandable but the execution and particularly the editing laid it down badly. Highway, lacks the romance between the lead couple who although gives out its best but situations between them are hard to believe. Veera (Alia Bhatt), a rich brat from a Delhi family, is soon getting married, but before that she wants to have a secret drive with her fiancé and so she forces him just to be kidnapped by a gang lead by Mahabir Bhatti (Randeep). But this small time gang is taken aback when they realize that this girl has a powerful family background. Bhatti decides to not to step back and takes her on a road-trip across valleys and landscapes of India just to escape the law.Here as a viewer, you don't feel for Alia, who despite being kidnapped enjoys the air of freedom thereby annoying the gang. Even the mulish gang leader portrayed by Randeep who tries to be harsh to Alia but ends up beseeching her, is hard to digest.Such are the unauthentic situations, which Imtiaz never paid heed to in his memorable archive dramas like Jab We Met and Love Aaj Kal but it seems he is running out of ideas or is trying to experiment with his love stories with a modern touch.Looks like, the director, whose love tales were more practical, is losing its sheen and we as his fans are not pleased with that. While Alia says in the flick she wants this journey to never end, we as a viewer want to get out of this truck as soon as possible. Alia, with her second flick devotes the energy required. She is self-centered and evokes some true emotion. Randeep on his part appears to be a viable goon but it's not one of his best performances so far. A R Rahman's music though is peppy and brilliant but we are still missing his ‘Rockstar' magic, which won him applauds from all over. His background score makes the sceneries look more beautiful. At last it could be said that this ‘Highway' has similar old roads which one would avoid travelling again and again.