Karwaan: Dulquer, Irrfan, Mithila's film proves it's the journey that matters, not the destination

Karwaan is not a road-trip film. It is a heart-warming story of love, loss and death. Sure, phrases like “the road less travelled” could be used to describe Akarsh Khurana’s second film, but only metaphorically. Karwaan is so much more about letting go of what weighs you down, rather than literally moving on (you know, on the road). On paper, at the core of this often-warm, often-hard-hitting film is Dulquer Salmaan’s character Avinash. A troubled but bright boy who works in the IT sector in Bengaluru, Avinash has always wanted to be a photographer. But his father was never okay with the arts, and hammered home the point that “liberals” don’t do any work and think their defiance is a revolution. This resulted in Avinash never pursuing his dreams, and it ends up making him miserly, disinterested and short-tempered. [caption id=“attachment_4718591” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Dulquer Salmaan, Mithila Palkar and Irrfan Khan in Karwaan. Image via Facebook[/caption] But Irrfan Khan’s Shaukat is the soul of Karwaan; a character who makes you laugh even when you don’t agree with him, a character who’s equal parts hilarious and intense. There were moments in the film where he wasn’t even saying anything, but just seeing him was enough to trigger uncontrollable laughter. But you know what they say about jesters — some of the most transformative moments of Karwaan belong to Irrfan’s character. His growth through a harrowing 72-hour journey  is what stays with you the longest after the film is over. Also read:  Mithila Palkar on Karwaan: Working with Irrfan and Dulquer was daunting, but they eased me into it Shaukat owns a garage in Bengaluru and is Avinash’s friend. Avinash gets a call in the middle of the night about his father passing away. The transport company goofs up and delivers the wrong body to Avinash. As a result, he has to travel to Kochi from Bengaluru to retrieve his father’s mortal remains. Along the way, he ends up picking up Tanya (Mithila Palkar) from her college. It is Tanya’s grandmom’s remains that have been mistakenly sent in place of Avinash’s father’s. Tanya is the millennial voice of this unique trio: she’s peppy, adventurous, woke and constantly on her phone.

Three unlikely characters, two dead bodies and one long, unwinding and unpredictable road trip — this is the setting of Karwaan.

Each of the three characters deal with loss in different ways. Avinash believes in sweeping things under the rug, Shaukat overcompensates for the emotional moments with tummy-aching humour and Tanya sinks deeper into the bubble that is her phone. As far as casting is concerned, I can’t imagine anyone but Irrfan and Mithila playing their characters; they are so tailor-made for them. Every scene that Irrfan is in, he brings atleast four different emotions to the table — humour being the foremost. Mithila is expressive and can hold emotionally complex scenes with ease. There’s no denying that Dulquer Salmaan is a very talented actor, and has an impressive list of south Indian films behind him (Ustaad Hotel, Bangalore Days and Mahanati to name a few). But in a bid to advertise Karwaan as his Bollywood debut, the makers lose sight of his intrinsic identity: his Malayali accent slips out at several points in the film, and it results in needless questions that are not even important to the story. This is a distraction I didn’t sign up for. [caption id=“attachment_4316067” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Irrfan Khan, Mithila Palkar and Dulquer. File image[/caption] Wouldn’t it have been more organic for him to play a Malayali character? I say this with a heavy heart, since I’m such a Dulquer Salmaan fan, but he did not seem convincing as an Avinash Rajpurohit in the film. However, it is important to note that beyond identity, Dulquer owns the screen in the film’s intense moments and also makes you smile in the silent scenes. Acting talent is evident when it comes to Salmaan. A friend recently said to me, “Dulquer Salmaan is nepotism done right” (he’s the son of Malayalam superstar Mammootty) — and I agree. Also read:  Dulquer Salmaan on Karwaan, working with Irrfan, Mithila Palkar and breaking into Bollywood The road-trip parts of Karwaan are picturesque, and credit for this goes to the pleasing cinematography by Avinash Arun (who won the National Award for the Marathi film Killa in 2014_)._ This, coupled with a hummable OST (special mention to Prateek Kuhad and Madboy/Mink) , makes Karwaan an atmospheric film — one best experienced first hand. It is easy to relate to the thematic elements of Karwaan; but dig deeper, and beyond the blatant advocacy of wanderlust lies the conversation around death, religion and the cyclical nature of humanity. It is in these moments that Karwaan truly shines, and therefore becomes one of those rare films that is better and stronger in the second half — when the clothes are off and the nakedness of the film stands out like a painting in a desert. I just wish there were more scenes between Avinash, Shaukat and Tanya. In a bid to be a road-trip film, Karwaan may have sacrificed screen time between its characters. It is unfortunately evident, but also easy to dismiss. Ultimately, the film makes you wonder: what would I do if I were in its universe? Watching Karwaan is like driving through a lush green road, earphones plugged in with your favourite music and your thoughts playing out like the opening credits of a film. At some point you will get tired of the view, and you may even fall asleep. But the journey moves along anyway, much like life. ** This is a first impression review of Karwaan_. Read Anna Vetticad’s movie review here ._