The trailer of Imtiaz Ali’s Highway seems really interesting in the first shot. Refreshing chemistry of onscreen pairing is about coming up with varied characteristics of two contrasting actors and make it look complimentary. As a filmmaker, Ali has ranked up in the view of both audiences and critics due to the unusual stories he tells, the beauty in his narratives and mostly for his choice of concepts that could have easily lost itself in mediocrity if mishandled.

Highway‘s trailer tells the story of a young girl who gets abducted and how she prefers the freedom of her journey over the bondage of where she comes from. In a particular line she mutters, she talks of how she doesn’t want to go back where she comes from and doesn’t want to reach where she is going. She simply doesn’t want the journey to end. Perhaps a very well thought of and poignant take on life.

Alia Bhatt in a still from Highway

The best thing about the trailer is its picturesque locales, fabulous cinematography and the soulful resonance of Rahman’s melody. Despite my own qualms about Alia Bhatt‘s caliber as an actress to pull off a tremendously powerful character like this or even the context of the story where a victim falls for her own kidnapper which is bizarre, I can safely bet on Ali’s charisma and prowess at direction which will pull this off as a winner. To base a story on the concept of ‘Stockholm Syndrome’ in today’s times is a challenging endeavor by itself.

Travelogues are hard to write and tougher to make films on. There is tendency that without potent skill, it might become a drag. And hence a sane sense of art is expected from the director to ably handle such films. Over time Imtiaz Ali has shown the knack of giving films that make you think. Commercial cinema doesn’t entirely qualify as crass due to directors like him and Highway‘s trailer just shows that the film has a good chance of claiming a place among the ranks of his superior work like Jab We Met and Rockstar.

Check out the trailer right here:

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