Avinash (Dulquer Salmaan) is your regular office employee who would do anything to not be one. He has a passion for photography but his dad doesn't share his vision. They end up not talking to each other due to this. And then one day Avinash finds out that his dad has passed away and now he must collect his body for the last rites. But he still is quite detached as he goes about the process - first to cremate the body and then, when he finds out that the bodies have been exchanged, to get his dad's body.

As mix-ups go, this one is weird. A man loses his father in an accident but the body delivered to him is of the mother of a woman in another state. Avinash Rajpurohit was not fond of his Dad, but duty calls and he agrees to meet the lady to exchange coffins somewhere between Bengaluru where he lives and her home in Kochi. A few hundred kilometres separate the two cities but Avinash travels a lifetime on that journey he makes with his friend Shaukat and a young woman called Tanya who joins them along the way.

KARWAAN extracts humour from melancholic situations like death and smartly infuses 'life' in this movie that sees the Malayalam heartthrob Dulquer Salmaan - son of the incredible Mammootty making his Bollywood debut while the magnificent Irrfan Khan is at his quirkiest best.

Something about this film tells me it's possibly much better written than it's turned out, although it's impossible to tell such things, unless one has personally observed the process. Still, there's absolutely nothing to fault in the underlying idea behind three disparate individuals - a young Millennial girl (Mithila Palkar); a single, urbane man, grappling with usual downs of a regimented, corporate life (Dulquer Salmaan); and an old, conservative Muslim with a Lucknowi/Hyderabadi/Bhopali twang/swag (Irrfan)

Karwaan is a very likeable film when it isn't trying to be liked. It's hard to go wrong with a road movie, especially one that is shot by Avinash Arun (Killa, Masaan). But it's harder to keep it simple and trust the "feeling" of a route. Some filmmakers insist on more than just the wind in their hair and Prateek Kuhad's breezy journeyman music. Coincidences, accidents, detours, errors - the screenplay of Karwaan is ridiculously contrived.

It's a tale of two buddies--Avinash Rajpurohit(Dulquer) and Shaukat(Irrfan) who go from Bengaluru to Kochi, not under the happiest of circumstances. Avinash is reserved, while Shaukat is opinionated. When the two of them are forced to give a lift to a collegian, Tanya (Mithila), their disposition towards life changes. This is a journey on which they find redemption, hope, love and eventually themselves!

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.

Death unites us all. It's when we come face to face with the reality of the final rest that we realise the true value of life. And it's only when someone close to us passes away that we realise that the differences, the angst, the separation wasn't worth it. Unlike life, death doesn't offer a second chance, however. We can only learn from the tragedy and move on, perhaps to take more chances, perhaps to let go of our inhibitions and lead a healthier, fuller life.

KARWAAN is the story of three diametrically opposite individuals on a journey together. Avinash Rajpurohit (Dulquer Salmaan) works in an IT company in Bengaluru and is frustrated with his job. One day he gets a call that his father Prakash Rajpurohit (Akash Khurana) has died in a bus accident while he was on his way to Gangotri. The travel company arranges for his father's mortal remains to be sent to Avinash in Bengaluru.

Irrfan Khan, whenever comes to the screen, some magic is bound to happen. Perhaps, there's a reason why this name itself draws thousands of people in the theatres. Karwaan is yet another cinematic magic of the versatile actor. But not only Irrfan Khan, the other two leads Dulquer Salmaan and Mithila Palkar were magnetic in their respective character.

Three disparate souls with father issues crammed into one van with a dead body that needs to reach its correct destination: Akarsh Khurana's Karwaan is happy to be summarised in as few words as possible. The 120-minute featherweight comedy is so content to embrace the big cliches associated with the road movie genre that it is almost possible to go along with the easygoing vibe and forget that there are larger questions at stake about the generation gap, lost dreams, and mortality itself.

It's true what Gandalf says. Death is just another path, one that we all must take. But the pragmatic spirit of Karwaan appears so smug in this knowledge that it shirks sentiment and wisdom to bury any trace of grief. If Shubhashish Bhutiani's inquiry into the same led to the oddly uplifting Mukti Bhawan, Akarsh Khurana's directorial debut endeavours to be an unplanned journey into self-discovery.

On the face of it, one might find enough to like in Karwaan to stay invested in the ride long enough not to be put off by the many awkward sputters along the way. The film has a wonderful cast, lush visuals and an easy, unhurried, non-formulaic flow. Three temperamentally dissimilar characters - a chirpy college girl and two buddies separated in terms of age by many years - drive off in a van from Bangalore to Kochi via Ooty with the coffin of an elderly woman killed in a road accident.

Akarsh Khurana's directorial debut, based on Bejoy Nambiar's story, builds on the genre with its own quaint, quirky touch. For once, the three protagonists - IT guy Avinash (Dulquer Salman), his friend Shaukat (Irrfan) and Tanya (Mithila Palkar) - belong to different age groups and the film emphasizes it than hide it away.

Amongst the toughest kinds of films to make is the rambling road movie which turns out to be a journey of self-discovery. The trick is in the assembly of the right ensemble, and in the way it ambles and rambles, to fetch up at a milestone. Or a signpost. Karwaan takes much too long to get to the point where the characters feel like they are together.

Avinash (Dulquer), a dejected soul stuck in a dead-end job shares a strange relationship with his father. He holds him responsible for crushing his dreams. However, he is left pondering upon this longstanding hatred when he hears of his father's untimely demise.

Dulquer Salmaan (Avinash) is someone who's software engineer not by choice. As seen in every other fulfill-your-ambition movie, it's his father who stopped him from chasing his dream of becoming a photographer. The news of his father being dead in a bus accident breaks to him in a very hilarious way. He then goes to Shaukat to borrow his van in order to bring his father's dead body from the airport.

There is an early scene in Karwaan in which Irrfan Khan - or Irrfan, as he insists on being called and credited - subtly sets the tone for the film we are about to see. It's set in a lonely dhaba, late at night, when even the hungry are fast asleep. It is an important scene, in which pivotal decisions are made and everyone - the actors and the audience - is required to be on their toes.