Karwaan Movie Review: A Stretched Journey

We have been missing seeing Irrfan Khan as he is undergoing treatment for cancer in London, which makes his upcoming film Karwaan a sight for sore eyes. But is that enough to make this road trip, which also stars South actor Dulquer Salmaan and Mithila Palkar, a great watch? Read on… Set in South India, the film revolves around Avinash (Salmaan), an aspiring photographer doing an IT job he doesn’t love in Bangalore. When he discovers that his father, who disapproved of his ambition to become a photographer, has passed away following an accident while on a pilgrimage, he is not really devastated. But on discovering that his father’s body has been shipped off to Coimbatore by mistake, he embarks on a journey to retrieve his father’s corpse with Shaukat (Irrfan), an acquaintance with a van and Tanya (Mithila), whose grandmother’s body has landed in his lap due to an error by the cargo company. How this road trip affects the lives of the three diverse characters forms the rest of the plot. Irrfan is, as usual, an absolute delight to watch and his wry humour and one-liners will have you in splits. Dulquer, who makes his Bollywood debut with this film, gives an admirable performance and is earnest, restrained and vulnerable in the right places. Mithila, who also makes her Bollywood debut, has an endearing freshness to her and we hope to see more of these two Bollywood newbies in the near future. Kriti Kharbanda is quite pleasant in her cameo as is South actress Amla. As for the story, ‘Karwaan’ is not a bad watch at all… in places. The dialogues are entertaining, the banter between the characters is fun and the cinematography is mind-blowing (Avinash Arun, the cinematographer surely deserves a pat on his back for highlighting the beauty of South India in his film). But having said that, ‘Karwaan’ does meander in various directions at times and seems quite a bit stretched for no apparent reason at all. At times, I felt that some scenes have been added just for the sake of it and had no relevance to the plot at hand (like Shaukat’s confrontation with some goons at the garage). Also, the track between Avinash and his father reminded me a bit too much of Madhavan’s track with Parikshit Sahni in 3 Idiots. However, if you are a fan of Irrfan Khan, Karwaan this weekend would not be a bad idea.