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Join UsStar Cast: Manoj Bajpayee, Jimmy Shergill, Prosenjit Chatterjee, Parambrata Chattopadhyay, Divya Dutta, Kitu Gidwani, Sachin Khedekar, Amol Parashar, Vishal Singh
Director: Rajesh Pillai
What’s Good: Manoj Bajpayee’s amazing performance and the thrilling journey of delivering the heart from Mumbai to Pune, in traffic.
What’s Bad: Disappointing direction and boring story which focuses on excessive emotional drama. Doesn’t give justice to the true events of the story.
Loo Break: First half is fine.
Watch or Not?: I would say, No. The movie is not impressive enough to go to theaters and watch.
User Rating:
Traffic is based on true events. It narrates the tale of different people whose lives get entwined on a crucial point. Ramdas Godbole (Manoj Bajpayee) is a traffic constable who was suspended earlier due to his bribery case but now is back on duty. Gurbir Singh (Jimmy Shergill) is the Head of Police for Traffic Department. Dev Kapoor is a superstar but he doesn’t spend much time with his family, especially with his daughter who has a serious heart condition.
Rehan Ali is a journalist from Mumbai, who is going for his first interview with superstar Dev Kapoor. But Rehan meets with an accident and gets critically injured, finding no hope for his recovery.
Parallely, in Pune, Dev Kapoor’s daughter gets gravely ill and now has only a day to survive. If she doesn’t get a heart transplant within next few hours, she would die.
Here comes the most difficult decision for Rehan’s family. They have to decide whether to keep the hopes of his son’s recovery on or to give his heart to Dev Kapoor’s daughter in Pune who has higher chances to live. Finally, they decide to donate the heart to the girl.
Now, the devastating challenge is burdened to the traffic department of Mumbai who has to deliver the heart from Mumbai to Pune in just two and a half hours.
Godbole (Manoj Bajpayee) takes this gigantic responsibility under the leadership of Commissioner Gurbir Singh. But, can Godbole deliver the heart in merely 2 & a half hours to Pune & save the girl or there would be limitless hurdles awaiting for him in the course?
Traffic Review: Script Analysis
Traffic is based on a true story and it should have been pretty much a straight forward one. But, the script was unnecessarily lengthy. The story takes abundant time to reach to the focal point of that thrilling ride which Godbole will take from Mumbai to Pune. Instead, the majority of first half is occupied with boringly deep background of each character. A short and concise treatment to them would have sufficed.
The core of the story lies in the electrifying journey of Godbole from Mumbai to Pune and it has been narrated in a gripping manner. The major flaw was the dramatic turn of events occurred in that journey. Needless story of a doctor and his redemption was first of all not convincing and secondly, illogical.
What works in the script is the detailing of the working cycle of a traffic department and the chaos that happens on the road. People living in Mumbai can utterly relate to it.
In a nutshell, the script fails to keep you engrossed in the storyline and its flaws outweigh the merits.
Traffic Review: Star Performance
Since the trailer launch, it has been obvious that Manoj Bajpayee is the soul of this movie and that has not changed. He has done the role of a traffic constable in a commendable manner. His firm dialogue delivery and that confidence on the screen works its magic for the film.
Jimmy Shergill as Gurbir Singh pulled off a good performance, although I was hoping for better from him.
Divya Dutta was emotionally effective and she portrays a good motherly aura for Traffic.
Sachin Khedekar is as usual sharp as Rehan’s father but he did not look like a Muslim person, of course, that is to be blamed to the director.
Traffic Review: Direction, Music
Late Rajesh Pillai chose a good topic to make people aware of such incidents. However, his storytelling fails to impress on a cinematic level. Movies like these should focus more on the actual problems of delivering the organ and traffic obstructions.
Non-linear storytelling is a good way nowadays to keep the audience interested in the plot but in the case of this film, it doesn’t help much.
Editing of the film was loose and it made the film dull. Some close shots of the characters stare for a longer period of time, making you feel irritated.
Amidst of all those demerits, cinematography lifts the movie. The locations of Mumbai traffic, Mumbai-Pune Highway locales were chosen smartly which gave the movie a realistic flavour.
Traffic Review: The Last Word
Traffic is a disappointing movie which fails to justify the true events. Boring, lengthy and more focused on a drama rather than the core topic of organ transplant in traffic conditions. Apart from Manoj Bajpayee’s sharp performance, the film has nothing to offer. My rating would be 2 out of 5 stars.
Traffic Trailer
Traffic releases on 6th May, 2016.
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