Traffic

I watched traffic when it was first released in 2011 and since then I watched the film at least 10 times including today. At the first glance the film was completely revolutionary with maybe being the first film in Malayalam to use hyperlink narrative style and also the inclusion of depth in the films with all characters backstory. But when I watched the film now I feel that the film was sub par in comparison to today's Malayalam films and it makes me happy and proud at how the industry has changed and became truly global in a short duration. Some of the errors I found today are the background score which was not thrilling enough and felt plain here and there. The story could have been better written with the main part the journey shown in the beginning instead of middle of the film.

Overall one of my all time favorite Malayalam film and a film that created the new wave in Malayalam film industry.

Whatever be one's opinion on the movie as a whole, there can be no denying the impact it had for the better on Malayalam Cinema. This was a landmark film in Malayalam movie history simply because it marked the definite turning of the tide from the mediocre and mostly sub-par work which was being churned out of this once luminous film industry. Speaking as someone who was depressed at the state of Malayalam cinema in the first decade of the 21st century, I am eternally grateful to the whole team behind this masterstroke of a movie, especially its director, Rajesh Pillai. Because post this, it looked like our cinema just couldn't stop being experimental. I can unabashedly say that I am a huge fan of new age Malayalam cinema and its embracing of modern storytelling themes. But without this to lay down the marker and challenge an audience which seemed to be creeping into acceptance of the superstar parodies of neighboring states, the change may not have taken wings.

The premise is simple. A famous actor's daughter is dying and needs a heart transplant. An accident happens and a matching donor is suddenly found. Now it's a question of getting the heart from one city to the other in the middle of rush hour traffic in a couple of hours so that the transplant can be done before it is futile. But the emotional trip this puts us through is what the movie is all about. Adrenalin rush at one point, emotional outbursts at another point, a whole host of characters are brought together in intersecting story lines. They all perform well, but special mention must go to Lena and Kunchako Boban, both in stereotype defying roles which probably resurrected their careers. However, after a long time in Malayalam, here was a movie which rather than being noticed for superstar actors had instead a superstar script, and found overwhelming acceptance from a state known for its acceptance of good films but deprived of the same at the time.

Sadly though, Rajesh Pillai passed away recently. His first movie was the forgettable Hridayathil Sookshikaam (Kunchako Boban and Bhavana in the lead) and he disappeared from the scene for a while before unleashing this thunderbolt out of the blue. His subsequent movies didn't live up to the almost impossible expectations this one set, though I did like the pleasant Milli. However sad his passing, we can have the consolation that he left behind such an epoch defying movie for us to savor.

Traffic (2011) : Brief Review -

Goes over the top occasionally but this Breathtaking ride is very well acceralated. I never thought a film titled Traffic would be based on actual 'Traffic' elements and provide such a humanly dramatic segments through anthology. Usually, we don't get to see such films or better say such ideas because the risk is there and we don't have many filmmakers who can dare to take it on. Traffic is a fine breathtaking experience, no doubts on that. But, does it fulfill all the criterias of a Classic film? No. It has some things gone wrong, not in experiment but in mainstream flow and that's the problem. It would have been no big problem if it had failed to convince few things while experimenting with the narrtive. The equation is opposite here, it delivers everything in experiments but fails in mainstream flow of the storytelling. A rare example of human error it is. Anyways, excluding that i don't think there is anything incorrect about it. Traffic is very good attempt and well delivered, that matters the most. In the film, the lives of some different people get intertwined when a girl is in urgent need of a heart transplant with the only heart donor being many miles of traffic away. Traffic has too many characters to name so it's not possible to talk about individuals but to end it in short i would say all the actors are decent to good. Some of them are not used properly in the screenplay but that's a mistake of screenwriter. It could have been more specific about elaborating characters but it had so much chaos to handle that it forgets to do so. The narrative goes over the top while making the mainstream drama look high-voltage but overall it ends up on a nice note. Rajesh Pillai gives it that much needed acceleration in the second half and Traffic wins the race in time.

RATING - 7/10*

By - #samthebestest.

Rajesh R Pillai with is his second film in malayalam industry after his debut film hridayathil sookshikkan has given something memorable to the audience of Kerala. Though the film has strong similarities to many other Hollywood films, we cannot say that it is a copy. The film is set on a usual urban day at Kochi. We have 4 parallel stories in this movie and the 4 of them gets mixed together after a tragic accident occurs to one of them at a crowded junction in Kochi. The 4 main lead actors are Sreenivasan, Rahman, Kunchacko Boban and Vineeth Sreenivasan. All the actors have given a strong performance and a special mention to Asif Ali. The script looks solid enough to make the film contest for the highest grossing malayalam movies of this year. I strongly believe that movies like these will certainly lift malayalam cinema industry from its current crisis and will help build a unique era the industry haven't witnessed before. I would give the film 8.7 out of 10 (since IMDb doesn't allow that, I would give it a 9). Just go for it and make this movie a hit!!!

Rajesh Pillai's traffic has got it's unique place in the Malayalam movie history(so far)considering the type of plot it handles and mode of narration adopted.The essence of the story is based on real events happened in Chennai.The plot revolves around (most of the time) the events happening between morning and evening on a particular day. Super star Sidharth Shankar(Rahman) is on a desperate run for a donor for his daughter's heart transplantation,Raihan(Vineeth Sreenivasan) an aspiring journalist is on his way to office, Traffic Constable Sudevan(Sreenivasan)is on the first day of duty after suspension and Dr. Abel Tharyan(Kunchako Boban) is test driving his dream,a car!!These 4 strangers are connected through the string of fate.How???that is the rest of the story. This movie adopted a non-linear method to tell the whole story going back and forth on the time line,during the whole movie.but the screenplay is so solid that the spectator never looses the grip on the story.The director and editor is so keen on keeping the viewers on edge of their seats most of the time.