Walking Sambhar’s salt plains and Kinnaur’s mountains, a traveller finds that some journeys never end, they change the way we see ourselves. Highway movie locations teaches us, the struggle, the passion and inner happiness once you explore the highway road trip India.
When Highway hit theatres in 2014, it wasn’t just a film, it was a revelation. Imtiaz Ali didn’t give us a glossy Bollywood fantasy. Instead, he offered a raw, unfiltered road trip through the heart of India, one that peeled back the layers of the country’s geography and soul. Over a decade later, Highway still feels less like a movie and more like an emotion — a road that many of us still want to travel.
The white salt flats of Sambhar Lake stretching to the horizon, the winding mountain roads of Himachal Pradesh, and the small, almost invisible details of villages and towns in the film stayed with me long after the credits rolled.
For me, the movie was less about its plot and more about the spaces it inhabited landscapes that reflected the emotions of its characters. It planted an insistent curiosity: I wanted to step into those frames and see if the world on screen held the same magic in reality.
Sambhar Lake: Where Time Rests On The Horizon
My journey along this cinematic trail took me to Sambhar Lake in Rajasthan, a location immortalised in Highway. It’s a salt-white expanse that shimmered under the sun, resembling snowfields stretching endlessly. The crystallised salt reflects light in a way that makes the horizon seem to dissolve.
Walking across the salt flats, with the wind in my hair and the sun casting long shadows behind me, I felt the surreal contrast between the vastness of the salt pans and the minuteness of my presence within them.
Sambhar Lake is India’s largest inland saltwater lake and a working landscape. Local communities here harvest salt using methods that have remained largely unchanged for generations. Watching them at work, balancing trays of white crystals under the scorching sun, I felt respect for their patience and skill.
If Imtiaz Ali ever filmed stillness, it might look like Sambhar Lake: unhurried and infinite. The salt plains glow beneath the clear blue sky, every glint of crystal holding the labour of those who work there. It feels less like a geographical feature and more like a memory that never stops shimmering. The crunch of salt underfoot made me appreciate the subtle interplay between cinematic imagination and lived experience.
Leaving behind the vast stillness of Sambhar, I followed the road until the white salt turned to white snow.
Kinnaur: Where Himalayan Peaks Touch The Heart
I felt a special pull towards Highway because Imtiaz’s films so often carry the presence of mountains, almost as if they are characters in his stories. Mountains in his films are never passive terrains; they carry emotion.
In Jab We Met, the snow-adorned Rohtang Pass becomes a stage for joy and love (Ye Ishq Haaye still echoes that feeling); in Tamasha, the hills of Shimla reflect the nostalgia of growing up; and in Highway, the Himalayan roads become metaphors for freedom.
In Laila Majnu, too, Qais shows a mountain to Laila, saying, vo pahaad mujhe bahut fascinate karta hai… bas aata hoon yahan, sochta rehta hoon, kya hoga us paar (That mountain fascinates me a lot… I just come here, keep thinking, what might be there on the other side). That mountain became a dream and a possibility of a place just out of reach. I felt the same when the road began to rise towards the Kinnaur peaks, every turn carrying me closer to that untold “beyond”.
Across Imtiaz’s films, the mountains seem to guide his characters towards revelation, helping them discover who they really are.
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Retracing Highway’s Route
Having travelled to Himachal Pradesh since childhood, the mountains have always felt like a part of me. After watching Highway, I felt an immediate connection — and the chance to revisit places I love while exploring new corners of Kinnaur such as Kalpa, Reckong Peo, and the villages that lie between them. Retracing the film’s route brought me back to landscapes that have shaped my sense of wonder and belonging.
Kinnaur is a land of sheer cliffs, apple orchards, mighty mountains, and villages that feel suspended in time. Roads wind along cliffs at impossible angles, the kind that leave you holding your breath as you drive, yet invite you to pause and take in the view.
Sitting in an HRTC bus in Reckong Peo and walking around the Narayan-Nagini Temple and the police station in Kalpa, I couldn’t help but remember the fleeting smile Mahabir (Randeep Hooda) gave to Veera (Alia Bhatt) in Highway. It was brief, but it carried the whole mood of the film, a mix of freedom and an unspoken bond.
Watching that scene back then, I hadn’t thought much about the place itself. But standing there years later, amid the local chatter, the overlap of reel and real felt uncanny. The cinematic moment had become a lived one — as if I, too, were a character in Imtiaz’s film.
And then there were the roads beyond, curling towards Lahaul-Spiti. These roads were part of an unfolding story once written for the screen, now replaying through my own journey.
Highway’s Cinematic Language: Where Nature Becomes Emotion
Imtiaz Ali didn’t just make a road film, he created a sensory experience. Every frame, shot by cinematographer Anil Mehta, feels intimate and unfiltered. The sound of wind, the hum of the truck engine, and A.R. Rahman’s haunting score turn the journey into meditation.
Songs like Patakha Guddi and Sooha Saaha perfectly complement the film’s spiritual tone, celebrating freedom, surrender, and the chaos of discovery.
Planning Your Own ‘Highway’ Road Trip
If Highway has ever inspired you to pack your bags and hit the road, here’s how you can recreate that journey:
- Start in Delhi → take NH44 towards Punjab and Haryana.
- Head west to Rajasthan’s Sambhar Lake and Bikaner, then north towards Himachal Pradesh.
- Cross the valleys of Spiti and Kaza, and if time allows, continue to Aru Valley in Kashmir.
You can cover this trip in about 15–20 days, staying in local guesthouses and exploring India off the grid.
The Road Within
Imtiaz Ali’s Highway isn’t about reaching a destination, it’s about discovering one within yourself. The film captures the essence of India, chaotic yet calm, broken yet beautiful. Following its trail isn’t just a travel experience; it’s an emotional pilgrimage.
So the next time life feels too scripted, take a detour. Maybe, somewhere between Delhi’s traffic and Kashmir’s silence, you’ll find your own kind of freedom.
