Beautiful Ride But Misses Important Routes

‘Kaarwaan’ film had a great potential to be a classic addition in the genre of good road movies. Sadly the opportunity is wasted here, where the writer & director wants to convey too much, which then sadly converts into nothing gets discussed good enough. But you still don’t regret & many times enjoy this ride;  thanks to good performances, beautiful cinematography, great bgm  and if you notice the theme of too much mechanics interfering in human’s life & how human interaction , touch & nature are still better than mechanical life. Sadly this doesn’t get shown more as it was required. Instead much of the story still focuses on passion vs secured job which we have now seen so many times , that been there done that feeling never leaves us.

                                                                          

                                                                          In film we mainly see story of Avinash (Dulquer Salman) who is not happy with his job & interested in photography. But he does the job because of his father (Akash Khurana) wants him to do. One day he gets call that his father is died & his body has been sent to him. When he goes to collect, he finds that body is of some other lady whose daughter lives in Kochi & he assumes his father’s body must be at her place so he sets of to the journey with his friend Shaukat (Irfan) in his van. In the route they get joined by Tanya (Mithila Parkar) who is granddaughter of the lady who has died. In that journey they get closed to each other revealing their sides, happiness & sorrows. Does Avinash finds his father’s body? Does that lady gets the body of her mother? What about Avinash’s passion? For answer to all these questions, you have to see the film. 

                                                                    As discussed earlier, writer Bijoy nambiar’s story has some good moments and some great possibilities from it. But the story mainly focuses on Avinash’s story which is pretty much the same passion vs job security story. Director Akharsh Khurana’s screenplay & direction is also not that sort which can hide or convert the weakness of story into  strengths. It is pretty much you get what you see type. Good scenes & possibilities are pretty much in the film for instance man vs machine theme. Where in this mechanical society a man is not allowed to remorse for his father’s death.  He can’t enquire properly about the news; as in the call center, news is given by one employee but when he calls again some other picks up who has no information on this. Even in rather good electrical ‘Vidyut Dahini System’, son can’t see his father one last time & can’t perform his last rites himself.  In another scene in growing social media atmosphere, Avinash argues with Tanya how sites like Instagram  are worse and how photos taken naturally & artistic way are better. The cinematography of  the film is the solid  proof itself. Again in another wedding scene, Shaukat tells one Shehanai player who plays only in marriages to play for himself because he wasn’t happy. He plays his shehanai in front of the great Kerla landscape is a treat to watch both cinematically & metaphorically. 

                                                          But sadly these scenes are few and far between. We mostly get Avinash’s many time seen story. Only exception his him meeting his ex-girlfriend with some beautifully written scenes. But this part is a standalone good part which doesn’t contribute much to the film itself. Shaukat’s part runs good in first half but in the second half his story turns into the weakest part of the film. It’s definitely the weakest and forced part in the film. Tanya’s story is all right in parts.

                                                                Hussain Dalal’s dialogues are awesome though. They are so right in place that covers the loopholes of screenplay. Dialogues are soul of this film.  Cinematography & all other technical departments are first class.  Background Music & songs are  lovely which gives you right feel like you are on a trip riding in car surrounding you is a beautiful landscape of nature.
                                                                         Coming to the performances Dulquer Salman is first rate. It’s just his first Hindi film & he is never out of place. Those who have knowledge about the film world, they might know him as a main hero in the film ‘Ustad Hotel.’ He is Malayalam actor but here he is north Indian guy who is settled in Bangalore.  In one scene when he hears some guys speaking Malayalam, his face is as clueless about what’s happening as mine. So was his acting. Mithila Parkar as Tanya is a breath of fresh air who is a lovely girl & always leaves a smile on your face by her performance & also shows her rebel side. So she does whatever was required from her. Irfan is another wonderful actor as we all know. Here also he is exemplary with his performance. His facial expressions & dialogue delivery are tad awesome. Here he has to do comedy mainly but he is never off place. Even in some otherwise clichéd dialogues he is able to deliver a perfect laughter. But those dialogues are few & most of the dialogues are nice & as mentioned are soul of the film.

                                                                                So all & all ‘Kaarwaan’ is a good film with beautiful road trip which you will surely like. Sadly when there were possibilities of being something great & being a great statement, this film remains in just a good category. 

Rating – 3/5