Karwaan may be Akarsh Khurana’s foray into big league but it comes out as a mature film where the audience is taken on a journey of self-discovery through the eyes of the three leads, led by none other than Irrfan Khan. It also marks the Hindi film debut of South Indian star Dulquer Salmaan and youngster Mithila Palkar who don’t look like as if they are acting in a Hindi film for the first time.

The story of Karwaan revolves around an accident – Avinash (Dulquer Salmaan) lost his father (Akarsh Khurana) and Tanya (Mithila Palkar) lost her grandmother to that accident. Their bodies are sent over in a coffin each but to the wrong owner and hence Avinash ends up with the grandmother’s coffin and Tanya’s mother Tahira with the father’s. Enters Shaukat (Irrfan Khan) Avinash’s mechanic-cum-friend who doesn’t have a stopper in his mouth but has a good heart. They undertake a journey of South India to pick the right coffin and drop the wrong one and it is on this ride they realise that they are all alike in some way. How this journey changes them is what Karwaan is all about.

There is no doubt in Irrfan Khan’s ability to take a film along but the way the two newcomers have handled themselves in his presence is commendable. Whenever Irrfan appears on screen, you know a smile and trouble aren’t far away and he knows how to make the audience laugh even when he doesn’t have a dialogue. The way he delivers a dialogue – spontaneous and without thinking – is what makes him everyone’s favourite and that’s one of the reasons why one should watch the film. Dulquer Salmaan looks the part of a 20-something executive who wants to be something else than that; Mithila Palkar proves her skills by taking the two actors at their best and comes out as the third person in a triangle where all three end up respecting each other. The script of this 2-hour flick has been penned by the director himself whereas Hussain Dalal has written dialogues like Maa Kahan Hai, Maa Nano Par which shows how well he knew the audience would laugh on a dialogue that refers to a dead person on the roof of a Nano car.

Karwaan should be watched not only for Irrfan Khan but also for the scenic beauty of South India because that’s where the road takes us. Many Indians may not understand the countless Urdu words in the script but that’s what you get when you travel down a country where Urdu used to be the unifying factor. It also shows us that you don’t have to be a thankless person all the time as after one door closes, many others open. It may not be the finest Bollywood film but it sure is one of the better ones this year and makes your belief firmer that content is king! •