Traffic

Date:13th February 2011@ Innovative Multiplex, Bangalore(12:15 PM)
ട്രാഫിക്‌ 

Starring: Sreenivasan, Kunchakko Boban,Rahman, Vineeth Sreenivasan, Sandhya,Remya Nambisan, Roma,Anoop Menon,
Director: Rajesh Pillai
Screenplay: Bobby Sanjay
Editor: Mahesh Narayanan
(mentioning screenplay and editors explicitly as they played an important role in keeping the movie tempo going on)

Storyline:

<copied some portions from nowrunning.com and rediff>

Rajesh Pillai's Traffic is a brutally brilliant film in which he lends color to coincidence and unveils before us a cogitation on the dynamics of chance. A strikingly crafted film that is raw and genuine, it crawls right under your skin and stays there.

The complex plot is about a day in the lives of a few people who are at the same junction at the beginning of the day, and how their fates get entangled as the day progresses

It all takes place on the 16th of September, when a few men and women, going on with their distinct lives in diverse worlds, find their paths crossing each other at a traffic island. Rehan (Vineeth Sreenivasan) is all excited about joining Indiavision as a journalist and sets out with his best friend Rajeev (Asif Ali). Aditi (Sandhya), getting over a divorce, sees him off and looks forward to something more. Dr. Abel (Kunchacko Boban) has plans to surprise his wife Shwetha (Remya Nambeesan) with a brand new car on their wedding anniversary. 

Sudevan (Sreenivasan) is back at work as a police constable, after a brief stint of suspension for having accepted bribes. Superstar Siddharth (Rahman) has a new release on the day, while his wife (Lena) is worried about their young daughter's failing health. Miriam (Roma), Manager at an FM Radio station gets an alarming text message on her mobile. And all this in a matter of twelve hours on the same day.

Bobby and Sanjay's script is one in which there has been a close scrutiny of all possible leak cracks, and in which almost all of them have been filled shut. Hence the several events that take place in the film simultaneously hold together amazingly well, and there is hardly a moment in the film where your focus drops. This is quite a feat, since it involves an adept juggling between emotions aplenty, some outstanding twists, a few mind boggling thrills and some well-kept suspense. The bottom-line is that Traffic could easily boast to have one of the best scripts written in Malayalam in recent time

It's a mammoth star cast in Traffic, and rarely does a film offer almost all its actors what they are truly capable of. The 'moments' are there for everyone, and they impress us for a while, and gracefully make way for another to occupy center stage. No star charisma at work here; just plain acting at its very natural best.

My Verdict:(4 out of 5)

Overall a very tight,slick and crisp movie with a lot of messages blended into the storyline. Liked the way the narrative went back and forth building the character sketches of the people by weaving their stories together and showcasing the motives behind their actions.

Addendum:

This is the first time ever in my life that i went for a movie in such a 'ad-hoc' way(thanks to my better half who made this so exciting :-)).After a lazy Sunday morning breakfast(wherein we had invited over Deepak), as we sat chatting till 11:15 AM, we had absolutely no idea as to what to do for the rest of the day.

Suddenly around 11:45 AM, she suggested watching a movie and we quickly checked out the options..no good Hindi/English movies..and thats when we saw Traffic(Malayalam) with a 12:15 PM show at Innovative multiplex.

I was like "Hmm? Err? Duhh?"(too short a notice for me) and Abhaya was like "lets go !!".

Then a mad rush..got ready in 5 mins flat...and left home at around 12 PM with 15 mins to go...Innovative is around 7 kms from our house.

Thankfully, the Saturday early noon traffic wasnt much of a bother and we zipped around reaching the theater within 10-12 mins..

Finally enjoyed this quick "splash-n-dash" plan with a good movie and some popcorn/eggpuffs and coffee to go.(err..not to mention some spilt popcorn and coffee on the seats)