Movie Review: Traffic

Movie Review: ‘Traffic’

Rating: 3/5

Director: Rajesh Pillai

Cast: Manoj Bajpayee, Jimmy Shergill, Parambrata Chatterjee, Prosenjit Chatterjee, Amol Parashar, Divya Dutta, Sachin Khedekar, Kitu Gidwani

See the Official Traffic Trailer

 Rajesh Pillai’s film Traffic is the Hindi remake of a 2011 Malayalam film of the same name treads the same path.  Even if you haven’t seen the first, which spun off remakes in Tamil and Kannada, this one stutters. There is always going to be poignancy and heartbreak in the impending death of a young life. And Kitu Gidwani and Sachin Khedekar channel that emotion well : how can you switch off the machine that’s keeping your son alive? Suppose he comes out of the coma? They underplay, and are effective.

Traffic is based on a true story and it should have been pretty much a straight forward one. But, the script was unnecessarily lengthy. The story takes abundant time to reach to the focal point of that thrilling ride which Godbole will take from Mumbai to Pune. Instead, the majority of first half is occupied with boringly deep background of each character. A short and concise treatment to them would have sufficed.

That decision is the hardest to take, and these parents do it to save another young life, finally succumbing to the pleas of another set of despairing parents ( Prosenjit Chatterjee and Divya Dutta). The task–to transport the heart, at breakneck speed, from Mumbai to Pune– is executed by a disgraced constable (Manoj Bajpayee), who is grateful for a chance to clear his name.

Also in the mix : a very shaky cardiac surgeon (Parambrata Chatterjee), the young man’s best friend (Amol Parashar), both of whom accompany the constable, a police chief (Jimmy Shergill) who greenlights the project after being lectured at by a doctor, and a bunch of others. They all do their job, but this enterprise, bloated by needless saccharine and background music, has its moments but stays, overall, strictly serviceable.

Rajesh Pillai chose a good topic to make people aware of such incidents. However, his storytelling fails to impress on a cinematic level. Movies like these should focus more on the actual problems of delivering the organ and traffic obstructions.

Non-linear storytelling is a good way nowadays to keep the audience interested in the plot but in the case of Traffic, it doesn’t help much.

Editing of the film was loose and it made the film dull. Some close shots of the characters stare for a longer period of time, making you feel irritated.

Amidst of all those demerits, cinematography lifts the movie. The locations of Mumbai traffic, Mumbai-Pune Highway locales were chosen smartly which gave the movie a realistic flavour.

Manoj Bajpayee is the soul of this movie and that has not changed. He has done the role of a traffic constable in a commendable manner. His firm dialogue delivery and that confidence on the screen works its magic for the film.

Jimmy Shergill as Gurbir Singh pulled off a good performance, although I was hoping for better from him.  Divya Dutta was emotionally effective and she portrays a good motherly aura for Traffic.  Sachin Khedekar is as usual sharp as Rehan’s father.