''Traffic'' is a 2011 Indian

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of ...

-language

road A road is a thoroughfare used primarily for movement of traffic. Roads differ from streets, whose primary use is local access. They also differ from stroads, which combine the features of streets and roads. Most modern roads are paved. Th ...

- thriller film written by Bobby-Sanjay and directed by

Rajesh Pillai Rajesh Raman Pillai (7 October 1974 – 27 February 2016) was an Indian film director best known for his work in the Malayalam cinema. He is credited with setting a new trend in Malayalam cinema with his thriller, ''Traffic (2011 film), Tra ...

. The film features an

ensemble cast In a dramatic production, an ensemble cast is one that comprises many principal actors and performers who are typically assigned roughly equal amounts of screen time.Random House: ensemble acting Linked 2013-07-17 Structure In contrast to the po ...

Sreenivasan Sreenivasan (born 6 April 1956) is an Indian actor, screenwriter, director, dubbing artist and producer who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema. Sreenivasan has starred in over 225 films. Sreenivasan wrote the screenplays of films such a ...

Kunchacko Boban Kunchacko Boban (born 2 November 1976) is an Indian actor and film producer who works in the Malayalam film industry. He is referred to as Chackochan, and during the early 2000s, he was called "chocolate boy" because of his romantic image. He ...

, Asif Ali,

Vineeth Sreenivasan Vineeth Sreenivasan (born 1 October 1984) is an Indian actor, director, producer, dubbing artist, screenwriter, playback singer and lyricist who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema. He is the eldest son of actor and screenwriter Sreeniva ...

, Sandhya, Rahman,

Anoop Menon Anoop Menon (born 3 August 1976) is an Indian actor, director, screenwriter and lyricist. He worked in television before acting in Malayalam films and has acted in more than 75 films. Menon won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Supporting ...

Remya Nambeesan Remya Nambessan (born 24 March 1986) is an Indian actress and playback singer, who primarily works in Malayalam and Tamil films. She has acted in over 72 films. She started her career as child artist and supporting roles in early 2000s, and went ...

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: People, characters, figures, names * Roma or Romani people, an ethnic group living mostly in Europe and the Americas. * Roma called Roy, ancient Egyptian High Priest of Amun * Roma (footballer, born 1979), born ''Paul ...

and Saikumar. The film has its narrative in a

hyperlink In computing, a hyperlink, or simply a link, is a digital reference providing direct access to Data (computing), data by a user (computing), user's point and click, clicking or touchscreen, tapping. A hyperlink points to a whole document or to ...

format. The film was released on 7 January 2011, to a positive reviews and since has been given a

cult status A cult following is a group of fans who are highly dedicated to a person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The latter is often called a cult classic. A film, book ...

. A

multi-narrative Multiperspectivity (sometimes polyperspectivity) is a characteristic of narration or representation, where more than one perspective is represented to the audience. Most frequently the term is applied to fiction which employs multiple narrators, ...

thriller that intertwines multiple stories around one particular incident, ''Traffic'' is inspired from an actual event that happened in

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

. Owing to its critical and commercial success, ''Traffic'' was remade into

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

as '' Chennaiyil Oru Naal'', in Kannada as '' Crazy Star'' and is also remade in Hindi, with the same name. This was also the last film of the veteran actor

Jose Prakash Kunnel Joseph Joseph, better known by his stage name, Jose Prakash (14 April 1925 – 24 March 2012) was an Indian actor and singer who worked in Malayalam cinema. He was a singer turned actor who had appeared in more than 300 films mostly in a ...

. ''Traffic'' is widely recognised as being among the first " Malayalam New Wave" films.

Plot

On 16 September in

Kochi Kochi ( , ), List of renamed Indian cities and states#Kerala, formerly known as Cochin ( ), is a major port city along the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea. It is part of the Ernakulam district, district of Ernakulam in the ...

, Sidharth Shankar is preparing for the release of his new film; Traffic Constable Sudevan resumes his duty following a suspension for accepting a bribe to pay the fees for his niece's school admission, cardiologist Dr. Abel is celebrating his first wedding anniversary and Raihan, an aspiring television journalist, starts his new job with an interview with Siddharth Shankar. At a crowded traffic jam, Raihan and his friend Rajeev, who are travelling together on a bike are hit by a speeding car at the signal. At the same junction in another car is Abel and his friend, Jikku. On the other hand, Siddharth's daughter Riya is suffering from a heart condition and her condition detoriorates, making her in need of a heart transplant. Raihan falls into a coma and is declared brain dead, although he is kept alive using a ventilator. Raihan's parents refuse to take their son of the ventilator and donate his heart but reluctantly agree on the persuasion of Rajeev, and Raihan's girlfriend Aditi. However, the heart is unable to be transported from Kochi to Palakkad, as there are no helicopters or flights available due to the weather conditions and time concerns; the only option available is via road. City Police Commissioner Ajmal Nazar is asked to take charge of the mission, but refuses due to the complexity and risk involved. However, he agrees on the insistence of Dr. Simon D' Souza. No officer is willing to drive the vehicle transporting the heart until Sudevan volunteers, hoping to regain the respect he lost. Accompanying him on the mission are Abel and Rajeev. The mission goes smoothly at first, until Abel holds Rajeev at knife-point, threatening Sudevan that if he didn't comply he would kill Rajeev, forcing Sudevan to deviate from the highway into a forest. After Rajeev retaliates, Abel calls his sister Miriam, and confesses to running over his wife Shwetha, after finding out that she was having an affair with his friend Jikku and that she may have died, therefore he wishes to save himself from the police. Siddharth then calls Abel and promises to help him, though he is not convinced. A frustrated Siddharth's wife Sruthi explains the trauma she has been through because of her daughter's heart condition, and tells him that no other problem could be bigger than this. A finally convinced Abel advises Sudevan and Rajeev to leave without him, however, he is brought along by Sudevan despite being requested by Nazar to have him arrested. They divert into a road 8km ahead of the scheduled route, making up for the time they lost. Riya's condition begins to worsen, causing Sudevan to take an alternate route through a communally sensitive are called Bilal Colony, where police are restricted from entering due to its strong minority. Rajeev, who is familiar with the area, helps make way for the vehicle to pass along with help of Thanzeer, Siddharth Shankar's Fan Club President whom Siddharth personally called. Abel also leave the vehicle to push two vehicles blocking the route. Sudevan drives at a high speed and reaches the hospital on time, ocvering the 150km feat in an hour and 58 minutes. Abel is relieved after finding out that Shwetha is in stable condition and has no complaints against him. Rajeev is offered a lift back to Kochi and Raihan's parents accept Aditi and invite her to their home, before doing Raihan's final rites. Riya opens her eyes, much to the relief of her family, and a satisfied Nazar thanks Dr. Simon D'Souza. Sudevan ''en-route'' to his home finds a group of people arguing in the middle road over a minor accident, where he signals them to stop, ending the film on a happy note.

Cast

as Head Constable Sudevan Nair,

Traffic Police *

as Dr. Abel Thariyan, a cardiac surgeon * Asif Ali as Rajeev, Raihan's friend *

as Ajmal Nazeer IPS, City Police Commissioner *

as Raihan, a trainee journalist * Rahman as Siddharth Shankar * Sandhya as Adithi, Raihan's girlfriend *

as Miriam, Abel's sister * Namitha Pramod as Riya, Siddharth's daughter * Lena as Shruthi, Siddharth's wife *

as Shwetha, Abel's wife * Saikumar as Dr. Saifudheen, Raihan's father *

Fathima Babu Fathima Babu is an Indian actress, former newsreader and socialite based out of Chennai who hails from Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry. Born in a Muslim family, Fathima began her public career as a newsreader for more than 25 years wit ...

as Raihan's mother *

as Dr. Simon D' Souza *

Krishna Krishna (; Sanskrit language, Sanskrit: कृष्ण, ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme God (Hinduism), Supreme God in his own right. He is the god of protection, c ...

as Jikku, Abel's friend * Rony David Raj as Journalist * Vijayakumar as Mathew, Siddharth's secretary * Reena Basheer as Sudevan's wife *

Nisha Sarang Nisha Sarangh is an Indian actress who appears in Malayalam films and television serials. She is best known for playing the character of Neelima in the TV sitcom ''Uppum Mulakum'', broadcast on Flowers. She won the Kerala State Television Award ...

as Sudevan's sister * Gowri Krishnan as Sudevan's daughter *

Baiju Ezhupunna Baiju Ezhupunna is an Indian actor and film producer who works in Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (unio ...

as Thanzeer, Siddharth Shankar Fan Association President *

Prem Prakash Cherian Joseph, popularly known as Prem Prakash is an Indian actor who predominantly works in Malayalam television serials and a producer in Malayalam movies. He is mainly known for supporting roles and character roles. He has produced 19 Mala ...

as Chief Doctor (cameo appearance) *

Nivin Pauly Nivin Pauly (born 11 October 1984) is an Indian actor and producer who works predominantly in Malayalam films. He is the recipient of two Kerala State Film Awards, three Filmfare Awards South, two Kerala Film Critics Association Awards, and ...

as Man in the car (cameo appearance)

Production

The film is directed by

. Writers of the film Bobby and Sanjay, who scripted '' Ente Veedu Appuvinteyum'' and ''

Notebook A notebook (also known as a notepad, writing pad, drawing pad, or legal pad) is a book or stack of paper pages that are often ruled and used for purposes such as note-taking, journaling or other writing, drawing, or scrapbooking and more. ...

'' 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." They add that the film is inspired by a true incident. A similar mission was successfully carried out by the

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

police in a more complex

city. Also, in a scene, the character played by

talks about the incident. ''Traffic'' is one of the first multi narratives made in this decade in Malayalam film. The film has Sreenivasan, Rahman, Kunchacko Boban and Asif Ali as the four lead protagonists whose stories are narrated through the sequences. 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." The film will be the second on-screen pairing of Vineeth and Sreenivasan, after their first film '' Makante Achan''.

Reception

Critical response

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 cogitation on the dynamics of chance. A strikingly crafted film that is raw and genuine, it crawls right under your skin and stays there." ''IndiaGlitz'' enthusiastically praised the film's "riveting plot, great performances, soulful music... and skillful direction". A review at Cinefundas also praised the acting, adding that "the real hero of the film is the script". ''Sify.com'' called it "an overwhelming experience" and rated it as "very good." 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. The movie was part of the series of movies that began the New Generation Movement. Traffic was screened in the ''Malayalam Cinema Today'' section at the 16th

International Film Festival of Kerala The International Film Festival of Kerala (abbreviated as IFFK) is a film festival held annually in Thiruvananthapuram, the capital city of Kerala, India. This film festival started in 1996 and is hosted by the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy ...

(IFFK), in

Thiruvananthapuram Thiruvananthapuram ( ), also known as Trivandrum, is the Capital city, capital city of the Indian state of Kerala. As of 2011, the Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation had a population of 957,730 over an area of 214.86 sq. km, making it the ...

, Kerala in 2011.

Box office

The film received highly positive reviews and was declared a blockbuster at box office.

Soundtrack

Remakes

Owing to its critical and commercial success, ''Traffic'' was remade in Tamil as '' Chennaiyil Oru Naal'' (2013), which was a huge success at box office like ''Traffic''.

Kannada Kannada () is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, and is additionally a ...

remake '' Crazy Star'' (2014) received negative reception from both critics and box-office. Traffic's Hindi remake was released in May 2016."ട്രാഫിക് ഹിന്ദിയിലും"
(in Malayalam) ''Kerala Kaumudi''. 11 April 2011. Retrieved 16 April 2011.

Awards

References

External links

*

at Nowrunning.com

at Oneindia.in
''Traffic'' review
at

Rediff.com Rediff.com, stylized as rediff.com, is an Indian news, information, entertainment, and shopping website. Founded by Ajit Balakrishnan in 1996, it was the first Indian website to become a mainstream news media organization. It is headquartered i ...