Karwaan

“Main akela hi chala tha janab-e-manzil, magar log saath judte gaye aur karwaan banta gaya.”

Avinash(Dulquer Salmaan) is that guy who is working a desk job at an IT company. We see a day in his life and get to see his egotistical boss raving and lashing out at people like a maniac doing exactly what he asks his employees not to do. When he gets home he gets a call from a travel company and finds out that his father has passed away in a road accident whilst on his way to Gangotri. Usually death brings with it shock and grief. Except, we see Avinash isn’t affected by his father’s death. He heads out to ask his friend Shaukat(Irrfan Khan) to lend him his van so he can collect his father’s body. Shaukat is Avinash’s friend who runs a garage and offers to drive him to collect his father’s remains. Now, Shaukat is a very outspoken man and has certain conservative views which he is constantly voicing out throughout the movie. His character is the caricature of most people today when they take offence to the slightest thing – girls wearing shorts, drinking, smoking weed and all other things you possibly have heard that are “bad” in society’s view. This is merely one dimension of his character. When Avinash and Shaukat find that there has been a switch in the bodies they are made to take a detour from the crematorium and set off on their journey to Ooty to return the body they have, to the rightful relative.

This journey takes them to Ooty where they meet Tanya (Mithila Palkar) who is that typical college student doing the typical college student thing. This trifecta of misfits then starts off towards Kochi.

Tanya and Avinash are on various points of the grief spectrum – one is on an emotional coaster of tears, alcohol and still has the teenage rebel remnants while the other keeps going back to his past giving us a glimpse of the father-son relationship. While all of this is happening Shaukat is also being hunt down by the henchmen of a loan shark who follow this trio all the way to Kochi. Thanks to these henchmen Shaukat finds himself besotted and lets go of all his conservative norms for love😉. Shaukat has his own demons and during the course of their journey we get to hear bits and pieces about each of these 3.

Do they get the body safely to its destination? Do they find closure? Can they move on? Will they move on and is there a climax to this movie? Well, I recommend you watch it if you aren’t a sensitive human who doesn’t get morbid humor. If you are looking for some underlying gyaan or hoping for a Dabaang climax then this movie isn’t for you. If you are a Bollywood fan and can keep up with Shaukat’s character progressively unwinding to a point where he reveals his heart all too much and derails his own conservative train of thought, then you’ll leave the theater laughing.

I love how throughout the movie little to no attention is paid to the “body” but a lot is said about the life the people lived. I especially liked that bit. I also like how matter of fact Avinash is.

This journey isn’t just about reaching a destination or finding oneself. It is about making peace with oneself, laying your demons to rest and celebrating the life of your loved ones.

You see this movie isn’t just about dead bodies or people who have lost a loved one but about grief and how each one handles it. I personally found the movie morbidly funny. I also found it comforting. To be honest this movie hit a nerve for me. Why? You’ll know about that in some chapter in my autobiography if I ever write one…

My Rating: 4/5

Recommend: Yes!