''Traffic'' is a

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

Indian

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam was des ...

-language road action thriller film written by brothers Bobby and Sanjay and directed by

Rajesh Pillai Rajesh Raman Pillai (07 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). Ra ...

. The film features an

ensemble cast In a dramatic production, an ensemble cast is one that is composed of multiple 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 ...

consisting of

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 as ' ...

Kunchacko Boban Kunchacko Boban (born 2 November 1976) is an Indian actor and film producer. Sometimes referred to as Chackochan, he works in the Malayalam film industry and has acted in more than 90 films in more than two decades. He is a member of the List ...

, 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 Supportin ...

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

, Sandhya,

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: Places Australia * Roma, Queensland, a town ** Roma Airport ** Roma Courthouse ** Electoral district of Roma, defunct ** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council *Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...

Remya Nambeesan Remya Nambeesan (born 24 March 1986) is an Indian actress, playback singer and dancer, who primarily works in Malayalam cinema. She started her career as an actress through the 2000 film ''Sayahnam''. She has acted in more than 65 films includin ...

Lena Lena or LENA may refer to: Places * Léna Department, a department of Houet Province in Burkina Faso * Lena, Manitoba, an unincorporated community located in Killarney-Turtle Mountain municipality in Manitoba, Canada * Lena, Norway, a village in ...

, Asif Ali,

Jose Prakash 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 antagonist roles. He was awarded with the J. C. Daniel ...

Krishna Krishna (; sa, कृष्ण ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme god in his own right. He is the god of protection, compassion, tenderness, and love; and is one ...

and

Namitha Pramod Namitha Pramod (born 19 September 1996) is an Indian actress who appears mainly in Malayalam films She made her acting debut in the Malayalam film '' Puthiya Theerangal''. She went on to appear in super hit films like Puthiya Theerangal (2012 ...

. The film has its narrative in a hyperlink format. The film opened on 7 January 2011, to a positive reception. It is widely regarded as one of the defining movies of the Malayalam New Wave. 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 (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

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

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

as ''

Chennaiyil Oru Naal ''Chennaiyil Oru Naal'' () is a 2013 Indian Tamil-language thriller film written by brothers Bobby and Sanjay and directed by Shaheed Kader. The film has an ensemble cast including R. Sarathkumar, Prakash Raj, Cheran, Devan, Prasanna, Ra ...

'', 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

. The film has a

cult In modern English, ''cult'' is usually a pejorative term for a social group that is defined by its unusual religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals, or its common interest in a particular personality, object, or goal. This ...

status.

Plot

On 16 September, superstar Sidharth Shankar gets ready for the release of his new film. On the same day, Traffic Constable Sudevan joins back on duty, after having been suspended from service for taking bribe as he wanted to pay the fees for his niece's admission. The day is special for Dr. Abel who is celebrating his first wedding anniversary. Raihan, an aspiring television journalist, starts his first job with an interview with Siddharth Shankar the very same day. On the same day, at a crowded traffic junction in

Kochi Kochi (), also known as Cochin ( ) ( the official name until 1996) is a major port city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of K ...

, Raihan and Rajeev, travelling in a bike are fatally hit by a speeding car at the signal. Raihan is all set to interview the superstar, Siddharth Shankar. Also at the junction, in another car, is the surgeon Dr. Abel. Raihan goes into

coma A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal wake-sleep cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. Coma patients exhi ...

and is declared

brain dead Brain death is the permanent, irreversible, and complete loss of brain function which may include cessation of involuntary activity necessary to sustain life. It differs from persistent vegetative state, in which the person is alive and some aut ...

although he is kept alive using

ventilator A ventilator is a piece of medical technology that provides mechanical ventilation by moving breathable air into and out of the lungs, to deliver breaths to a patient who is physically unable to breathe, or breathing insufficiently. Ventilators ...

Lakeshore Hospital VPS Lakeshore, also known as Lakeshore Hospital is a multi super-speciality Hospital in Kochi, Kerala, India. It is located along National Highway 66 in Nettoor, and is a 650-bedded facility with over 30 clinical departments. The hospital is hea ...

Kochi. Meanwhile, Siddharth's ailing daughter Riya's condition becomes worse. She is admitted to Ahalya Hospital Palakkad and she urgently needs a heart transplant. At first, Raihan's parents do not agree to take their son off the ventilator and donate their son's heart but Rajeev and Raihan's girlfriend Aditi persuade them into it. Now that the heart is available, the problem was with transporting it from Kochi to Palakkad. No helicopters or chartered flights are available due to bad weather and time concerns and so the heart will have to be taken by road. Someone will have to drive the 150 kilometres from Lakeshore Hospital in Kochi to Ahalya Hospital in Palakkad in under two hours during the rush traffic. City Police Commissioner Ajmal Nazar 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. Sudevan, being an experienced driver who has driven as an escort for ministers, volunteers to be the driver of the

Mahindra Scorpio The Mahindra Scorpio is a mid-size SUV manufactured by the Indian automaker Mahindra & Mahindra since 2002. It was Mahindra's first model to be built for the global market. The Scorpio was conceptualized and designed by the in-house integrated ...

which will transport the heart because he wanted to regain the name he lost due to the bribe incident. Accompanying him on this mission is Dr. Abel and Rajeev. Everything goes smoothly for some time. But at a point Dr. Abel threatens Sudevan that he would kill Rajeev if he didn't comply, forcing Sudevan to deviate from the highway into a forest road (Puttukad forest area) in order to save himself from the police. However, Rajeev retaliates leading to a fight. He phones his sister Miriam and speaks that he had hit his wife Shwetha with a car as he was infuriated with the fact that she was cheating on him with his best friend Jikku and that she has possibly died, so he wishes to save himself from the clutches of the police. Here Siddharth Shankar phones him and convinces him that he can save Abel, however, Abel is shown not to be so convinced. In the nick of time, Shruti, Siddharth Shankar's wife explains her mental traumatic condition due to the heart problem of her daughter for the last 13 years and explains that no other problem can be bigger than this one. Abel now convinced, advises Sudevan and Rajeev to leave. However, Sudevan decides to have Abel with them in the team and in spite of the repeated suggestions from the Commissioner Nazar to get him arrested. They are then shown to enter a road 8 km ahead of the route time table, thus making up for the time they lost in the forest. However, after some time Riya's conditions worsen, forcing the team to take an alternate route through a communally sensitive place called Bilal Colony, where the police cannot enter the place due to its strong minority. Rajeev, who knew the place well and advises Siddharth Shankar to get the place cleared for the vehicle to move. Siddharth Shankar personally phones Thanzeer, his Fan Club President who goes out of his ways and means to clear roads for the vehicle. Rajeev exits the vehicle as soon as they enter the colony to ensure the roads are clear. In midway, Abel also exits the vehicle to remove two vehicles which are blocking the route. After which Abel boards the car with Thanzeer's assistance, however, Rajeev is unable to board the car. Sudevan drives at high speeds and ensures that they reach Ahalya Hospital on time. Covering the challenging 150 km feat in a daunting 1 hour and 58 minutes. Abel finds out that Shwetha is out of danger and has no complaints regarding the accident against Abel, thus freeing him. Rajeev is offered a lift to Kochi by an unnamed man. Raihan's parents invite Aditi home as a symbol of acceptance and prepare for the last rites of Raihan. Riya opens her eyes, bringing joy to her family, Nazar feels a sense of satisfaction and phones Dr. Simon D'Souza to thank him. Sudevan en route to his home finds a few people fighting on the road regarding a minor accident, where he signals them to stop the fight. Thus the movie ends on a happy note.

Cast

as Sudevan Nair, a head constable in Kochi City Traffic Police *

as Dr. Abel Thariyan, a cardiac surgeon at Lakeshore Hospital, Kochi * Asif Ali as Rajeev Menon, Raihan's best friend *

as SP Ajmal Nazar

IPS IPS, ips, or iPS may refer to: Science and technology Biology and medicine * ''Ips'' (genus), a genus of bark beetle * Induced pluripotent stem cell or iPS cells * Intermittent photic stimulation, a neuroimaging technique * Intraparietal sulcus, ...

, City Police Commissioner of

as Raihan Saifudeen, A journalist trainee working in

Indiavision Indiavision was an Indian pay television news channel based at Kochi, Kerala, India. It broadcast in Malayalam. History Indiavision was launched on 14 July 2003. The network launched a second channel, YES Indiavision (Youth, Entertainment & Spo ...

* Rahman as Siddharth Shankar, a Malayalam Cine Megastar * Sandhya as Aditi, Raihan's girlfriend and a divorcee *

as Miriam, Abel's sister working in Club FM *

as Shruthi, Sidharth Shankar's wife * Sai Kumar as Dr. Saifudeen, a surgeon and Raihan's father *

Fathima Babu Fathima Babu is a South Indian actress, former newsreader and socialite based out of Chennai who hails from Puducherry. Born in a Muslim family, Fathima began her public career as a newsreader for more than 25 years with DD Podhigai, the Tamil ...

as Raihan's mother *

as Shwetha, Abel's wife * Vijayakumar as Mathew, private secretary to Siddharth Shankar * Dr. Rony David as Charlie, Journalist *

as Riya, Sidharth Shankar's daughter *

as Jicku, a common friend of Abel and Shwetha who has an affair with Shwetha *

Reena Basheer Reena Basheer is an Indian actress and dancer. She works in the Malayalam film industry and television. Career She made her film debut in the Malayalam film '' Mulla'' in 2008 and later appeared in many movies. She won the Second Best Actress A ...

as Sudevan's wife *

Nisha Sarang Nisha Sarang (born 2 July 1970) 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 ...

as Sudevan's sister *

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

as a doctor * Renjith Reghu as Deepu * Mahima as Aditi's friend *

Baiju Ezhupunna Baiju is an Indian film Producer/Actor, who has worked predominantly in Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry ( ...

as Thanzeer, the Siddharth Shankar Fans Club President of Bilal Colony * Akhil S. Prasad as Ajaz, Miriam's brother *

as Dr. Simon D'Souza (guest appearance) *

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

as a man in a car (special appearance) *

Gowri Krishnan Gowri Krishnan is an Indian television actress who is known for her leading roles in '' Kana Kanmani'' and ''Pournami Thinkal ''Pournamithinkal'' was an Indian Malayalam-language television soap opera drama. The show premiered on Asianet ch ...

as Sudevan's Daughter (special appearance)

Production

The film is directed by

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

Ente Veedu Appuvinteyum '' Ente Veedu Appuvinteyum'' is a 2003 Indian Malayalam-language family drama film directed by Sibi Malayil and produced by Prem Prakash. It was the debut movie as scriptwriters of brothers Bobby and Sanjay. The film starred Kalidas Jayaram, ...

'' 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. History ...

'' 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 a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is 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 India ...

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. Vineeth Sreenivasan, who recently made his debut as a writer and director with ''

Malarvadi Arts Club ''Malarvadi Arts Club'' is a 2010 Indian Malayalam-language musical comedy film written and directed by Vineeth Sreenivasan in his directorial debut, produced by actor Dileep. In the film, Five friends take the responsibility of reviving their fa ...

'', 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. 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 ''Makante Achan'' () is a 2009 Indian Malayalam-language comedy drama film directed by V. M. Vinu, written by Samjad Narayanan, and produced by Seven Arts International. It stars Sreenivasan, Vineeth Sreenivasan, and Suhasini in lead roles, w ...

''. 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. This movie was said to be better than its other remakes.

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 by its former name Trivandrum (), is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala. It is the most populous city in Kerala with a population of 957,730 as of 2011. The encompassing urban agglomeration populati ...

, Kerala in 2011.

Box office

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

Soundtrack

Remakes

Owing to its critical and commercial success, ''Traffic'' was remade in Tamil as ''

'' (2013), which was a huge success at box office like ''Traffic''.

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

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 Oneindia.com is an Indian website established in January 2006 by BG Mahesh. The website provides news updates, information on sports, events, travel, entertainment, business, lifestyle, videos, and classifieds in seven different Indian language ...

''Traffic'' review
at

Rediff.com Rediff.com (stylized as ''rediff.com'') is an Indian news, information, entertainment and shopping web portal. It was founded in 1996. It is headquartered in Mumbai, with offices in Bangalore, New Delhi and New York City. , it had more than 300 e ...