| Traffic | |
|---|---|
Poster |
|
| Directed by | Rajesh Pillai |
| Produced by | Listin Stephen |
| Written by | Bobby Sanjay |
| Narrated by | Sreenivasan |
| Starring | Sreenivasan Rahman Kunchako Boban Asif Ali Anoop Menon Vineeth Sreenivasan Sandhya Roma Remya Nambeesan Lena |
| Music by | Mejo Joseph Samson Kottoor |
| Cinematography | Shyju Khalid |
| Editing by | Mahesh Narayanan |
| Distributed by | Magic Frames |
| Release date(s) | January 7, 2011 |
| Running time | 122 minutes |
| Country | India |
| Language | Malayalam |
| Budget | 2.5 crore (US$475,000) [1] |
| Box office | 6.5 crore (US$1.24 million)[2][3] |
Traffic (Malayalam: ട്രാഫിക്) is a 2011 Malayalam thriller film written by brothers Bobby and Sanjay and directed by Rajesh Pillai. The film features an ensemble cast consisting of Sreenivasan, Rahman, Kunchako Boban, Asif Ali, Anoop Menon, Vineeth Sreenivasan, Sandhya, Roma and Remya Nambeesan.[4] The film has its narrative in a hyperlink format. The film opened on January 7, 2011 to universal acclaim. A multi-narrative thriller that intertwines multiple stories around one particular incident, Traffic is inspired from an actual event that happened in Chennai. Owing to its critical and commercial success, Traffic is to be remade into Tamil and Hindi cinema under the same title.
Contents |
On September 16, superstar Sidharth Shankar (Rahman) is getting ready for the release of his new film. On the same day, Traffic Constable Sudevan (Sreenivasan) joins back on duty, after being suspended from service for taking bribes. The day is special for Dr. Abel (Kunchako Boban) who is celebrating his first wedding anniversary. Raihan (Vineeth Sreenivasan), an aspiring television journalist, is starting his first job with an interview with Sidharth Shankar the very same day.
On the same day, at a crowded traffic junction in Kochi, Raihan and Rajeev (Asif Ali), traveling in a bike is fatally hit by a speeding car at the signal. Raihan was all set to interview the superstar, Siddharth Shankar. Also at the junction, in another car, was the surgeon Dr. Abel.
Raihan goes into comma and is declared brain dead although he is kept alive using ventilator. Meanwhile, Siddharth’s ailing daughter's condition becomes worse and she urgently needs a heart transplant. At first Raihan's parents does not agree to take their son off the ventilator and donate their son's heart but Rajeev and Raihan's girlfriend persuades them into it. Now that the heart is available, the problem was with transporting it from Kochi to Palakkad. No chartered flights or helicopters were available and so the heart has to be taken by road. Someone has to drive the 150 kilometers in under two hours during the rush traffic.
City Police Commisoner Ajmal Nazar (Anoop Menon) is asked to carry out the mission. He initially refuses considering the complexity and risk involved in the mission. But finally he heeds to the persuasion of Dr.Simon D'souza (Jose Prakash). Sudevan, being an experience driver who has driven as an escort for ministers, volunteers to be the driver of the Jeep because he wanted to regain the name he lost due to the bribe incident. Accompanying them on this mission is Dr Abel and Rajeev.
Everything goes smoothly for sometime. But at a point the police team loses contact with the vehicle and it mysteriously disappears. Later it was understood that before the mission commenced, Dr Abel had hit and run his wife when he discovered her affair with his best friend. Abel tries to sabotage the mission in an attempt to escape, but Sudevan and Rajeev manages to convince him to save the girl's life. All goes well and they reach the hospital in time to save the girl's life.
The film is directed by Rajesh R Pillai, , Hrudayathil Sookshikkan, starring Kunchacko Boban.[5] Writers of the film Bobby and Sanjay, who scripted Ente Veedu Appoontem and Notebook explain: "The director wanted the film to be of a different mould altogether. Here every character is of equal importance as the story moves ahead. It was quite a challenging task but an enjoyable experience as well."[6] They add that the film is inspired by a true incident. A similar mission was successfully carried out by the Tamil Nadu police in a more complex Chennai city.[6] Also, in a scene, the character played by Anoop Menon talks about the incident.
Traffic is one of the first multi narratives made in this decade in Malayalam film. The film has Sreenivasan, Rahman, Kunchakko Bobban and Asif Ali as the four lead protagonists whose stories are narrated through the sequences.[7] Vineeth Sreenivasan, who recently made his debut as a writer and director with Malarvadi Arts Club, says that it was the exciting script that attracted him to the project. "It is a particularly exciting day for my character as he is all set to join a news channel but as it turns out fate had other plans in store for him," adds the actor.[6] On the theme, Rajesh says,"I felt it was a theme that could connect with viewers regardless of their age. It's a contemporary theme that reassures us that if we approach something with honesty, even nature will come to our support."[8] The film will be the second on screen pairing of Vineeth and Sreenivasan, after their first film Makante Achan.[5] Sandhya plays Aditi, who is in love with Raihan. "Aditi is perhaps more worldly-wise than usual for someone her age. But she has her own reasons for being so", says the Malayali actor who created quite a stir with her performance in the Tamil film Kaadhal.[6]
The film opened on 7 January 2011 to positive reviews. Veeyen of Nowrunning.com gave the film 3 out of 5 stars, writing, "Rajesh Pillai's Traffic is a brutally brilliant film in which he lends color to coincidence and unveils before us a cogitation on the dynamics of chance. A strikingly crafted film that is raw and genuine, it crawls right under your skin and stays there."[9] IndiaGlitz enthusiastically praised the film's "riveting plot, great performances, soulful music... and skilful direction".[10] A review at Cinefundas also praised the acting, adding that "the real hero of the film is the script".[11] Sify.com called it "an overwhelming experience" and rated it as "very good."[12] The Malayalam website Movieraga called it an "excellent movie" and went on to state that the new blood of Malayalam cinema cannot be seen as second-grade any more.[13]
Traffic was screened in the Malayalam Cinema Today section at the 16th International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK), in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala in 2011. [14]
The film had only an average opening in Kerala box office.[15] However, it managed to maintain the number one position[16] and grossed 90 lakhs in the opening weekend.[15] The film netted 4.6 crores in five weeks, thus recovering the budget of 2.5 crores and getting a distributor's share of more than 2 crores.[1] It completed 50 days in most of the releasing centres and had a net gross of around 5.35 crore within this time.[17] The total collection of the film from the Kerala box office is 6.5 crores.[2]
The songs featured in the soundtrack album are composed by Samson Kottoor and Mejo Joseph, with lyrics penned by Vayalar Sarath Chandra Varma and S. Ramesan Nair.
| # | Song | Artist(s) | Composer | Lyricist |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Kannerinjal" | Vipin Warrier, Hisham | Mejo Joseph | S. Ramesan Nair |
| 2 | "Pakalin" | Sithara | Mejo Joseph | Vayalar Sarath Chandra Varma |
| 3 | "Theme Music" | Instrumental | Samson Kottoor | — |
| 4 | "Unaroo Mizhiyazhake" | Chinmayi | Samson Kottoor | S. Ramesan Nair |
| 5 | "Unaroo Mizhiyazhake" | Samson Kottoor | Samson Kottoor | S. Ramesan Nair |
| 6 | "Unaroo Mizhiyazhake (Instrumental)" | Kalyan | Samson Kottoor | S. Ramesan Nair |
Owing to its critical and commercial success, Traffic is to be remade into Tamil and Hindi cinema under the same title.[18][19] It has been officially announced that Kamal Haasan will play a pivotal role, probabily as himself in the role of the movie star, in the Tamil version.[20][21] The rights for the Hindi version has been bought by Endemol.[22]
