[Movie] Highway Movie Review: The Unseen Psychological Flaw in a Bollywood Classic

I am back with another movie review, and this time I want to bring a completely different perspective on a Bollywood film. Usually, I am quite harsh with my ratings and easily give most movies a 20 out of 100. So when I give a movie an 80 out of 100, there is a very specific and interesting reason behind it. Stick with me through this review because there is a lot to learn here, even beyond the cinema itself.

The movie I am talking about today is "Highway." To be honest, this movie is good enough to deserve a 100 out of 100, but I deducted 20 points because of one massive psychological flaw that the creators and the fans completely missed. Aside from that flaw, what I respected most was the writing. There are no cheap item songs, no forced romantic scenes, and no useless filler. Alia Bhatt delivered one of her best performances here as an actor. Every scene carries a heavy atmosphere that forces you to face societal taboos that people usually sweep under the rug.

If I summarize the plot briefly, Alia plays a girl from a very wealthy family who gets kidnapped on a highway right before her wedding. Since her father is influential, the police and law enforcement immediately put full effort into finding her. If she were a poor girl from a rural area, nobody in power would have even cared to search for her in that region. But as the journey continues, something unexpected happens. She starts opening up to her kidnapper, Mahabir, more than she ever did with her own family. They share their deepest and darkest secrets. In one of the most emotional scenes of the movie, she reveals her own childhood trauma, sharing a painful #MeToo moment where her own uncle sexually abused her at home, turning on the bathroom tap to drown out her voice while forcing her face down. It hits hard because it exposes how family members protect abusers just to keep up social status.

Now, here is why I deducted 20 points from an otherwise brilliant movie. Anyone who knows me knows how deeply interested I am in psychology and men's mental health. When this movie came out, public reactions and cinema interviews were filled with people saying things like, "The kidnapper shouldn't have died," or "He was so caring," or "Alia really loved him." The problem is that the writer and director either failed to understand or failed to clearly show that this was not love at all. In a kidnapping scenario, when a victim develops feelings for their captor, it is a psychological illness known as Stockholm Syndrome. When you are in extreme danger, your expectations from a kidnapper are rock bottom. So when that kidnapper shows you even a basic level of human kindness or protection, your mind tricks you into confusing basic safety with romantic love. Alia was in an extremely weak emotional state, carrying unhealed childhood trauma. She didn't need a romance with her kidnapper; she needed serious professional therapy. By framing this psychological trauma as a pure love story, the movie and the audience completely misrepresented the core issue at the end.

Even with this huge oversight, I still give "Highway" an 80 out of 100 because it is one of the extremely rare Bollywood films that even brings up Stockholm Syndrome and childhood abuse. I will keep raising awareness about this kind of psychological conditioning for as long as I live. In South Asia, especially in places like Pakistan, issues like bacha bazi, child grooming, and pedophilia are very real. Predators intentionally use grooming and psychological conditioning to trap minors into a form of Stockholm Syndrome, making it almost impossible for victims to break free. On top of that, mental health awareness in our society is practically non-existent.

So I urge everyone reading this, whether you are from Pakistan, India, or Bangladesh, to go watch "Highway." But do not watch it as a simple romantic drama. Look at it critically from a different angle. Ask yourself why Alia felt that way. Was it genuine love, or was it psychological grooming, Stockholm Syndrome, and unresolved childhood trauma driving her behavior? Please educate yourselves and those around you on topics like Stockholm Syndrome, emotional intelligence, and mental health. This knowledge is crucial for us and for the generations coming after us. Take care of your mental health and the people around you, because real change only starts with awareness.

Rating: 80/100

Originally posted through scrobble.life/movies.