Highway

Jag Mundhra's *Highway* is a audacious departure from conventional Hindi cinema, daring to blur the lines between captor and captive into something far more psychologically complex than the pulpy synopsis suggests. What could have been a trashy revenge thriller instead becomes an introspective character study—reminiscent of Deepa Mehta's explorations of female autonomy, though less refined. Alia Bhatt delivers a surprisingly nuanced performance, moving from privileged paralysis to genuine self-discovery with a subtlety that elevates what could have been melodrama; there's a rawness here that recalls Tabu's work in *Chandni Bar*, though without that film's unflinching brutality. The real triumph lies in how Mundhra refuses to make Mahabir a conventional romantic hero, instead presenting him as broken and morally compromised—Randeep Hooda's weathered intensity serves the narrative far better than conventional heroics would have.

However, the film stumbles when it asks us to romanticize a kidnapping as spiritual awakening. The script occasionally tips into problematic territory, suggesting that trauma and captivity are necessary catalysts for female self-realization—a dangerous inference that undercuts its feminist pretensions. The road-movie structure works visually, with cinematography that captures India's underbelly with documentary-like authenticity, yet the pacing wavers in the second half when the film seems uncertain whether it's thriller or romance. Compared to *Udaan*