Highway- Ek Selfie Aarpaar
Length: 138 Minutes
Length: 138 Minutes
Poducer: Vinay Waman Ganu
Director: Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni
Story, Screenplay, Dialogues: Girish Pandurang
Kulkarni
Cast: Girish
Kulkarni, Renunka Shahane, Sunil Barve, Mukta Barve, Tisca Chopra, Huma
Qureshi, Kishor Kadam, Nipun Avinash Dharmadhikari, Satish Alekar, Nagraj
Manjule
David Mitchell, in his book ‘Cloud Atlas’ says,
“Travel far enough, you meet yourself”. Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni’s Highway-Ek Selfie Aarpar makes sure that
its characters and the viewers too meet themselves at the end of a 138 minutes long
movie. This road film travels through almost every human emotion and just like Umesh’s
past ventures gives an enlightening and refreshing experience to the viewers at
the end of the journey.
It’s a story based entirely on the very busy
Mumbai-Pune Express Highway; featuring all its characters travelling on this
highway for various reasons through various vehicles. An NRI scientist in town to meet
his hospitalized father, a TV stargoing to a political event, accompanied by a
stereotypical political bhai a
corporate biggie trying to win the office politics on the phone while dealing
with sentimental talks and arguments of his pregnant wife, a woman constantly
bashing her husband who has cheated on her and a football fan sharing a cab
with them, a socialite with a rent boy for an extra-marital adventure, a father and a differently-abled son
travelling by a Shivneri bus, a bunch of Telugu villagers getting a lift in a
truck and carrying a mysterious box, a couple struggling with an injury because
of a road accident, a sex worker and her
mother with a schizophrenic man carrying a bird cage in his hands and a middleclass
man travelling in a shared taxi are the central characters along with the
numerous others on the same canvas. They all come from different walks of life,
carrying their own baggage of what they are. Each one is in a hurry to reach
their respective destinations. But the movie captures far more than just their
journeys.
First half
quickly establishes the plot introducing all characters. The second half is the
heart of the movie. The journey suddenly stops due to traffic jam and then, the
audience is treated to a kaleidoscope of characters struggling, unintentionally
clashing, with a plot being crafted out of their interactions with one another.
It’s always a tough task to handle such an unwanted halt in lives, and while
handling this trouble, some
questions hidden deep within are provoked, the judgments are challenged, the
assumptions are thrown away, emotions are stirred and what comes out in the end
is the escape we all are longing for.
It is a simple story having many layers and strings. The
beauty of the film lies in its frames, camera angles, music and background score.
Amit Trivedi has done a marvelous job with catchy tracks. Background music
which expresses as much or sometimes more than the dialogues is more
commendable. Every frame is stunning and a say-it-all type. The one I loved the
most is the introducing scene, where a
Chawl boy comes out of his house and we see a huge skyscraper in the background
of chawl with that boy standing in front with bright sunlight on his face; a say-it-all
frame, isn’t it? Not to forget, the dialogues penned by Girish Kulkarni are
impressive too, adding a necessary crisp to the story. The scene where Girish and
Renuka Shahane while eating chivda,
talk their hearts out, is one of the best scenes in the movie. The metaphor
created with a Marathi poem, “Ghan tami
shukra bagh rajya kari” and the word game between Tisca chopra and her
companion are couple of another most impressive things.
In the acting department, everyone has performed their best.
It is Huma Quereshi and Tisca Chopra’s debut in Marathi films. They have
smaller roles and they have done their job perfectly. All other big names in
Marathi industry have maintained their standards. Girish Kulkarni, National
award winner yet again, wins the audiences. But the most appreciable piece of
work comes by a veteran, Renuka Shahane portraying a middle-aged, middle-class
wife doing the balancing act of adjusting with tantrum-throwing husband and
finding the happiness in small things.
When the end arrives, film’s strange tagline and the strange
posters suddenly appear so apt. The climax doesn’t really end the journey, it
discovers a new way. With all the emotional ups and downs, film finally sets to
the ultimate emotional goal-Happiness and Hope. We are in a hurry to reach a
destination always, but this film makes us love the journey. Despite the length
and billions of characters, the film neither gets boring nor confusing. It is
really a remarkable and heart touching yet an out-of-the-box attempt indeed.
