MUMBAI: Death is no laughing matter. On the other hand, when you are so close to it that you can actually smell mortality, then maybe its wise to develop a sense of humour about it.
I haven't seen Irrfan in a comic role for a very long time. The trailer shows him having a ball as he is hired by a staid whitecollar type (Malayalam superstar Dulquer Salman) to transport his father's dead body across the verdant roadways of Kerala.
There is a whole lot of chaos and confusion over the identity of the corpse which reminded me of Kundan Shah's "Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron". But what really caught my attention was Irrfan's sense of fun. Hell, he has been on road trips in two recent films "Piku" and "Qarib Qarib Singlle".
But he never seemed to have so much fun bantering with his discernibly disparate travelling partner, being rustic-rude to Dulquer's urbane girlfriend (internet actress Mithila Palkar), taking on goons and offering Dulquer's repressed character unsolicited 'gyaan'.
Try this: "You must never trust a woman who is crying, or the milkman."
Come again?
"Karwaan" looks like a whole lot of scrambled fun thanks to Irrfan's sparkling comic timing and, if I may say, his zest for life, a quality that seems specially apt and ironical at a time when he is fighting for his life far away from the simulated reality of the movie business.
It is sporting of Dulquer to take on the role of the quieter, less aggressive and therefore far less conspicuous character in his Hindi debut. Both Irrfan and Dulquer are fearless actors, and it would be interesting see how they play against one another in this road film while trying not too laugh too hard at the luggage that they have to carry around.
This is a corpse and robbers' saga with a twist.