‘Traffic’ Movie Review: But where’s the traffic?

Directed by: Rajesh Pillai
Produced by: Deepak Dhar, Sameer Gogate, Sameer Rajendran
Cast: Manoj Bajpayee, Jimmy Sheirgill, Divya Dutta, Prosenjit Chatterjee, Parambrata Chatterjee
Duration: 1 hours 44 minute
Bollywood Bubble Rating: 1/5

It is tricky to review a bad film when the maker has just recently passed away; especially without coming across as too mean or nasty. Nevertheless, the job has to be done. I must admit, I went in with a lot of expectations, but with such an ensemble cast that includes stalwarts like Manoj Bajpayee, Divya Dutta, Prosenjit Chatterjee and Parambrata Chatterjee, it is natural to be hopeful.

Director Rajesh Pillai’s ‘Traffic’, a Hindi remake of his own Malayalam film by the same name, is a huge mess trying to bundle in so many things in its runtime. The film starts off on a poetic note where we hear Manoj’s narration of some deep, profound stuff, and the characters are quickly introduced – perhaps one of the very few plus points of the film.

The stories of all the principal characters are established in the first fifteen minutes or so. You are almost lost thinking whom to root for. As shown in the trailer, there are two sets of parents; both are at the verge of losing their respective child. So far, so sad. One child has to die for the other to survive. One mother is begging the other for an organ donation.

This is where you see the most laboured/forced acting by Divya Dutta, Prosenjit Chatterjee, Sachin Khedekar and Kitu Gidwani. By now you are already waiting to see traffic. You have already seen enough of sobbing and sighing, but will it stop here? No. It just goes on and on. After what seems like a very long time in the two hospitals, where the patients are admitted, the action shifts towards the Police Control Room, where Jimmy Sheirgill is trying to pull off an Anupam Kher from ‘A Wednesday’, and fails miserably.

By the way, we are still waiting for the traffic. Jimmy believes Mumbai to Pune by road in two and half hours is just impossible, and not even worth trying. But he gets an earful by a senior doctor played by Vikram Gokhale, and he finally agrees to transport the heart. What’s strange is that for some reason, Jimmy doesn’t drive down to Pune with the heart himself. He passes the job to Manoj.

Here onwards, the film just completely goes off the road. So many weird things happen, that will leave you scratching your head, and squirming and cringing in your seat. The film is titled ‘Traffic,’ but comes across as a show-reel of the Tata cars, especially the Tata Safari Storme. Brand plug done well, but what the hell. The most random things happen post interval.

By now, you don’t care about anybody in the film. You just want to get done with it, or just wait to see if they do manage to get the heart to Pune and save the little girl. Thirty more minutes post interval, you don’t even care about that. It’s just a huge mess, and you start giggling at the stupidity that is unfolding in front of you. Watch this film only if you are a hardcore Manoj Bajpayee fan. Actually, if you really are his fan, then don’t.

WATCH TRAILER: