Traffic Signal

Watched it last weekend. I don't remember the last time I had such a headache after watching a movie. On a Saturday night for the second show the hall had like 25 people and 7 walked out after interval. I thought Madhur's AAN - Men At Work was far more entertaining than this debacle! he he Madhur certainly didn't have to end a terrific trilogy with this lame movie. Technically the movie is brilliant and everyone's acted well. But Kunal Khemu certainly falls miles short in emotional scenes. Ranbir Shorey is a treat to watch and did I fall in love with 'Sunami'! That boy was brilliant. I am a great admirer of Sudhir Mishra's 'Is Raat Ki Subah Nahin' and his brilliant 'Hazaron Khwahishen Aisi' which probably is Indian cinema's first political epic saga is one of my all time favourite Hindi movies. But with all the dreamy eyes in the world he cant even if it bludgened him on his face! While trying to establish shades of diaspora of characters in-depth Madhur I guess somewhere forgot an anchoring spinal story. On the whole I don't have to spend my weekend with my girlfriend cribbing in a multiplex paying through my nose to suffer a hyped docudrama. I've seen many documentaries which are better paced and interesting than Traffic Signal.

Very ambitiously this movie tries to deal with more plots than are usually expected in a single movie. I am sure Madhur had his hands more than full with all that he wanted to communicate through this movie. Even though the actors have done a decent job, and some pretty insightful sub plots emerge during the course of the movie, in the end it leaves one with a feeling of things having been dealt with incompletely. The movie is in fact more like a series of sketches, each dealing with a different sub-plot or idea. This feeling is enforced by the fact that it's scenes do not fit together as a tight, cohesive production. This is because even though they involve the same characters, each of them tells a very different story.

Traffic Signal seems to be the perfect example where a director should have gone for an extensive treatment of all these ideas through a serialized production rather than trying to put everything into one grand movie where the limitation of time is a huge constraint. Give me this movie's reel and a pair of scissors and I'll neatly cut out about 10 different episodes that could be independently developed to create a wonderful hard-hitting docu-drama series. With how much the movie attempts to cover of the Indian society and really, also the human condition at a deeper level, I really believe it would have been served better if executed in the way of Kieslowski's work on Dekalog.

6 out of 10.

May be my expectations were too high after watching chandni bar and page-3. The effort was no where to be seen through-out this movie.

Having a good plot is not enough. The script was far below PAR, a lot of the scenes don,t glue together( most of them look to be squeezed in between)

None of the actors were able to make an impression, except for konkana sen . I am still not able to digest madhur using "bollywood" style melodrama, in desperate attempt to create some effect on the viewer. kunal's dialogue delivery was mediocre, the scene when kunal talks to his folks while being taken away by the police, is the worst of all.

spare your self!

I hesitated to purchase this movie for fear of too much realism (or over-the-top melodrama), but I was pleasantly surprised to find that it really had a lot of heart, while showing a whole side of street life that's usually invisible to the passerby.

I didn't feel that the subject was being 'candy-coated' either -- much of the awfulness and heartbreak of such an existence is graphically included, and the director stated that they 'did their homework' in bringing the realities of it to the screen. Kunal Khemu is a very talented actor, so very expressive, and not afraid to show emotion. I recommend it to anyone who wants a glimpse into this part of Indian society, and maybe a partial understanding of what this type of life is like for so many.

"Documentary styled Bollywood Movie" Madhur Bhadarkar has created a genre in Bollywood (pity there is no one yet who contributes to it). He does slice-and-dice of an industry and shows it inside out leaving the audience "begging" for more.

Traffic Signal treads the same path as Page 3. It gives an insight into the lives of beggars in India and the nexus/ cartel that we thought never exists! Just like any other corporate industry, it showcases the opportunities, threats, do-and-don't's, the hardships, the middle-men and the kingpin. It has a sugary-romance (reality check on Yash Raj movies) and an upright officer fighting for justice (typical Bollywood!).

Kunal Khemu gives his best shot. The ring-leader is in gym-toned body while the beggars are malnutritioned. Explains why!

Neetu Chandra does leave much impact though she had an opportunity of lifetime.

Konkana Sen Sharma and Ranvir Shorey need no words for their performance. They are absolutely spot-on and probably the most convincing characters.

Upendra Limaye (a Madhur's regular) was miscast this time around.

Nassar Abdullah reprises his Page 3 character once again.

Sudhir Mishra, sorry but you weren't the right choice. Mahesh Manjarekar probably?

There are a few character artistes in Bollywood noted for their typical, distinguished, one track performance. Razak Khan, Makrand Deshpande and Bobby Darling come to Top of Mind recall.

Manoj Joshi is as usual dependable.

The inspector puts up a authentic performance (Mukesh Tyagi?).

Next time you stop by the Traffic Signal, your eyes will not see the same.