Traffic

Being an avid watcher of Malayalam films, it was with a mournful twinge in my heart that I started watching the Hindi remake of Traffic, especially when the starting credits was being shown. It showed the pics of the two people Malayalam cinema lovers had lost in the past couple of months, but will always remember dearly in their hearts - the director, Rajesh Pillai, and actor Jishnu Raghavan (who plays Parambrata's deceitful friend in the film). With a moment of silence and respect for these departed souls, let me begin my review.

A Mumbai television journalist meets with a fatal accident leaving him on a ventilator. In Pune, a young girl can only be saved if she gets a transplant. The mission of transporting the organ is entrusted to a traffic constable, looking to earn his stripes back! A remake of the 2011 Malayalam film of the same name, Traffic deals with the vagaries of destiny. On June 25, 2008, multiple characters set out of their homes without knowing what life has in store for them.

The Hindi remake of a 2011 Malayalam film of the same name treads the same path : how soon can you clear mad traffic snarls to transport the beating heart of a brain-dead person to rescue a sinking patient? Will you be fast enough, beating rain, potholes, unforeseen road-bumps, and reach in time? While I was engaged with the goings-on in the original, which borrows from 'Amores Perros' to craft multiple threads featuring multiple characters all converging on one point, I found myself tuning out in this one, because the crispness and the sense of urgency is missing.

TRAFFIC - remake of the 2011 Malayalam film of same name, is primarily a movie about a green corridor which allows a police vehicle/ambulance carrying human organs for transplant to travel at a speed of 120 kmph without any impediments. Apparently it is based on a true story which happened in Chennai a few years ago.

In 2011, late director Rajesh Pillai came up with Traffic, a Malayalam movie about an operation by the traffic police department to transplant a heart from one city to another and the lives of several people, which get intertwined over the course of the narrative. This year's Traffic, which boasts of an ensemble cast featuring Manoj Bajpayee, Prosenjit Chatterjee, Parambrata Chatterjee, Divya Dutta, Jimmy Sheirgill and others, is a remake of the South flick, but unfortunately, the remake doesn't match up to the original.

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.

A remake of the 2011 Malayalam film by the same name, Traffic is about the victory of determination and goodwill over human insecurities. It is a rare gripping thriller in Bollywood that also touches the right emotional chords. Rajesh Pillai's film, based on a real-life incident, is about people who meet due to tragedies in their lives. An accident intertwines their fates and the movie traces their journey towards saving one.

'Traffic', based on a true story and a remake of an eponymous 2011 hit Malayalam film, deals with an interesting, offbeat yet extremely relevant subject. It showcases the emotional turmoil and adventure involved in transporting a live organ from one city to another in time to save a person's life. The film pans in and out of the lives of four characters: a superstar (Prosenjit Chatterjee) who's too busy for his family of wife and daughter, a young journalist (Vishal Singh) who's just about to get his first celeb interview, a doctor (Parambrata Chatterjee) who dotes on his wife, and a traffic cop (Manoj Bajpayee) whose reputation has been sullied due to corruption charges.

The cast of this movie boasts of names that are known as outstanding performers. So you have Manoj Bajpayee, Jimmy Shergill, Parambrata Chatterjee, Sachin Khedekar, Divya Dutta and Kitu Gidwani. Their lives are connected with a big mission, to transport a heart from one hospital to another in a very short span of time covering a long distance. But Jimmy Shergil (Police commissioner) is a hurdle in this miraculous mission as he cites several logistical issues which the people in power didn't approve.

Coincidences and happenstance play a major role in Traffic, the late Rajesh Pillai's Hindi remake of his 2011 Malayalam smash hit of the same title. But thanks to its sharply chiselled screenplay and near-perfect casting, this racy and gripping film leaves nothing at all to chance. The paths of several unrelated individuals cross in unexpected, life-altering ways when a car jumps a signal at a busy Mumbai intersection and hits a motorcycle carrying two friends.