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.

'Traffic' is undoubtedly, a carefully crafted work, flowing through deep emotional,tensed and dramatic moments. The thrilling plot similar to some of Hollywood's, the movie thrills with parallels weaved from four different angles of a police constable, a movie superstar, a divorced lady, a dying news reporter and his parents. Well worked screenplay,excellent direction, good apt background music and outstanding performance from some good actors all make this movie a heartwarming ride. Kudos!!

Still, it's a shock that veterans like Saikumar who delivered a class,subtle and marvelous performance in this movie are still underrated or partially utilized. 'Traffic' - 'never miss'.

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.

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.

Basically, I am a car enthusiast, and I feel this movie is very good in terms of driving skills and everything. But I don't know how a 2002 model Scorpio was cruising at 120km/h even in the bad road conditions of Kerala in 2011. Anyway, this is a fantastic movie. "Traffic" (2011) is widely considered a hit in Malayalam cinema. It was not only a critical success, lauded for its unique storytelling and strong performances, but also achieved commercial success, becoming a landmark film in Malayalam cinema. Many consider it a trendsetter that ushered in a new era of Malayalam cinema.