‘Karwaan’ Movie Review: Discover the true essence of life with Irrfan, Dulquer and Mithila

Directed By: Akarsh Khurana
Produced By: Ronni Screwala, Prithi Rathi Gupta
Cast: Irrfan Khan, Dulquer Salmaan, Mithila Palkar
Duration: 1h 54m
Bollywood Bubble Rating: 3

Road trips with your friends are always fun and worth remembering for a lifetime. But director Akarsh Khurana, discovers the flip side of the same through his latest release, ‘Karwaan’. Not focusing on the joyful side, which road trips usually are, this film rediscover the true meaning of life with the help of three lost souls- Dulquer Salmaan, Irrfan Khan and Mithila Palkar.

Plot

Shot in South India, ‘Karwaan’ narrates the story of Avinash (Dulquer Salmaan), who is forced to give up on his dreams by his father and made to switch to a 9 to 5 job. The guy continues to do so, though fed up of the same, until a tragedy, his father’s death in a road accident, strikes. Post hearing about his father’s demise, Avinash heads to collect his corpse at the cargo shipping company, as informed by the tourist company. Later, when he was about to perform the last rites of his dad, Avinash comes to know that the cargo company has handed him some other person’s dead body. Knowing that, Avinash rushes to their office and finds out that his father’s body has been shipped to Kochi and interchanged with Tanya’s (Mithila Palkar) maternal grandmother’s corpse.

Here begins the journey of Avinash with his friend Shaukat (Irrfan Khan) and the two of them set out on a trip to exchange the interchanged the dead body of Avinash’s father with Tanya’s grandma.

All in all, the first pie of this cake is not wow considering the slow pace, but still, it manages to bring a smile on your face with Irrfan Khan’s on-point comic timing.

Coming to the latter half of this journey, Bejoy Nambiar, the writer of the film, wins our heart with this part. Unlike the first half, this one unfolds many other aspects of Shaukat, Avinash and Tanya’s life, which leaves you teary eyed. As these three souls find solace in the end, their tale teaches a lesson or two about life.

Performances

Irrfan Khan as Shaukat is at his funniest best. He is a gem without which the movie wouldn’t have been complete. Whereas Dulquer Salmaan, the South heartthrob who has marked his debut with this film, won my heart with his correct Hindi dialect and strong screen presence. No wonder many girls drool over him down south.

On the other hand, Mithila Palkar is impressive enough. Kriti Kharbanda, in a special appearance, doesn’t disappoint at all.

Overall, the star cast of ‘Karwaan’ puts up a good act, making it a major highlight of the film.

Direction and Cinematography

Director Akarsh Khurana who has earlier delivered films like ‘High Jack’, ‘Kites’ and ‘Befikre’, does his job well. Bejoy Nambiar, the man who penned the story could have made it more intriguing and connected us with the characters in a single take. But, he nails it with his writing in the later half.

Avinash Arun, the cinematographer, is excellent with his work, as he sets the mood right according to the storyline in most of the scenes. Dialogues by Hussain Dalal are applaud worthy, which again becomes the strong point about ‘Karwaan’.

Music

‘Chota Sa Fasana’ by Arijit Singh and ‘Saansein’ by Prateek Kuhad are pleasant to one’s ears. Though, ‘Heatquake’ crooned by Papon, disappoints. On the whole, the music of Irrfan Khan starrer is A-rated.

What’s Good

Music

Good Performance by the star cast

Dialogues

What’s Bad

Forced scenes

Slow-pace at few juncture

Final Verdict

‘Karwaan’ let’s you discover the true essence of life. A must watch this weekend, we recommend.

Watch the trailer here: