Buddha in a Traffic Jam

The director and actors did justice to the movie by their brilliant skills of direction , role-playing , usage of marvelous sound and visual effects . The title " Buddha in a Traffic Jam " is symbolic of the innovative idea aimed at enlightening the masses which however gets stalled in the traffic jam as it gets opposed by various quarters.

The movie blatantly exposed the grand nexus of left ideologues and extremists on ground fueling the war on the pretext of tribal welfare, but motivated by vested interests since they thwart any attempts which are aimed to alleviate the toiling tribal masses in real.

Vikram, a student of IndianSchool of Business is made to empathize with the cause of toiling tribal masses, but when he discovers that the problem is more of an economical than social problem, he innovates a business model that would benefit the tribal population directly by making them financially independent . The very defendants of tribal welfare then condemns and targets him , since anything that would make the tribal people better off would mean an end to their shallow ideological claims and interests. The dialogue by Professor Ranjan, " We want to remove poverty , but do not want the poor to become rich " exposed the farce claims in a nutshell.

Amazing scrip, direction and dialogue delivery.

Director Vivek Agnihotri's political drama Buddha In A Traffic Jam attempts to make you believe that uprooting the 'Left fraternity' is need of the hour, and perhaps the biggest challenge before the next generation, which wants to uplift the poor rather than glorify poverty.

Buddha in a traffic jam could arguably be the first movie falling under the 'parallel cinema' category which does not romanticize with the 'Left'. Vivek Agnihotri appears to be antidote to the narrative of Neo- realism which has been established over the years by the likes of Satyajit Ray, Bimal Roy, Mrinal Sen, Shyam Benegal, etc. And the flawless Anupam Kher looks to champion the cause of the Right, which Balraj Sahni did for the Left.

Courageous concept, which falls right flat in the second half. A combination of half-baked dialogues, lackluster acting (except Kher) and vision less direction makes it tough for the viewer to sail through. Vivek Agnihotri brings us an untouched issue of the hidden war going on in the country between Naxals and the tribals. The trailer of 'Buddha In A Traffic Jam' had resonated with me, prompting me to find my own voice, however silent, against corruption. It was expected that the film would be a message on social awakening, but it turned out to be much more than that. 'Buddha In A Traffic Jam' is mostly in English which might be a problem for the producer. But it is certainly a must watch.

The title of the movie does not give out much of the storyline. But it is not difficult to guess that the name is in fact, a metaphor; it is not just unusual but conveys a deeper message. This movie is about how a smart management student studying in one of the biggest B-schools in India and the world, with fresh and noble ideas, gets entangled in the murky world of politics and corruption. The movie tries to expose the sinister nexus between the Naxals, NGOs, academia and the acclaimed scholars and their motives and does it in a quite unabashed way. It explores how students in certain universities are systematically brainwashed to become intellectual terrorists.

The movie also examines the themes of moral policing, campus politics, plight of the adivasis living in tribal areas and the middlemen who eat up all the money before it reaches the intended recipients. The movie pokes its viewers by questioning whether India, a young nation ridden with corruption and poverty, can indeed become a superpower with its never-ending fight between socialism and capitalism.

The protagonist of the movie, Vikram Pandit, played beautifully and confidently by Arunoday Singh stands for Buddha, a learned person who has ideas and the zeal to bring about a change in the society. But he can't really attain enlightenment because he is stuck in the traffic jam of bribery, dishonesty, socialism, capitalism, the system and the establishment. Anupam Kher plays the economics professor, Prof. Batki in a very understated but effective manner and the range of emotions he shows in the movie look so effortless. Pallavi Joshi and Mahi Gill play their characters with grace and poise, just what the film needed.

A movie such as this is hard to release in India; finding the distributors is a nightmare. Small budgets don't allow the movie to be strongly marketed; it deters the film from reaching all its target viewers. A must watch for all students, their teachers, the intellectuals and the establishment, this film is indeed one of the most hard-hitting movies to come out so far this year. When Vivek Agnihotri in a response to an answer said, "India needs freedom from mediocrity, inefficiency and incompetence", I couldn't agree more. Kudos to the director who has dared to make a film on such a topic with utmost passion and sincerity. I hope this jewel does not get lost in the traffic jam of Indian cinema as another fine movie which couldn't reach its audience.

Anupam Kher acted well. but do not expect 'saransh' performance here in this movie. he is a professor or recruiter(Gabbar kind of). Pallavi Joshi was exceptional. Arunoday Singh puts up a decent performance as a young revolutionary top college kid who steps up against the exploitation of poor innocent tribal people in the name of fight for equality of the same people. The movie shows how people under the mask of Marx-Lenin left ideology and devil of corruption slowly eating our nation. Due to bitter truth shown in the movie none of distributed yet agreed for commercial release of film. Movie has been screened at over 30 film festivals. and has won many of awards. although the movie was removed from the scheduled list at National Film Festival as someone is ensuring that people do not watch it. This will clear up some of 'what who why' in the recent JNU incident. Inspired from Agnihotri's own life, "Buddha In A Traffic Jam", dealing with corruption and Maoism, is set in a business school where a professor and a student, who is set to create a revolution.

Undoubtly a must watch parallel cinema which is rare now a days.