Traffic (2011 film)

Traffic
Soundtrack album by Mejo Joseph
Released	25 December 2010
Recorded	2010
Genre	Film soundtrack
Length	25:32
Language	Malayalam
Label	Satyam Audios
Producer	Listin Stephen
Mejo Joseph chronology

Traffic
	Theatrical Official poster
Directed by	Rajesh Pillai
Produced by	Listin Stephen
Written by	Bobby Sanjay
Starring	Sreenivasan; Kunchacko Boban; Asif Ali; Rahman; Anoop Menon; Vineeth Sreenivasan; Sandhya; Roma; Remya Nambeesan; Lena ; Namitha Pramod
Narrated by	Sreenivasan
Music by	Mejo Joseph; Samson Kottoor
Cinematography	Shyju Khalid
Edited by	Mahesh Narayanan
Production; company	Magic Frames
Distributed by	Magic Frames
Release date	7 January 2011;
Running time	122 minutes
Country	India
Language	Malayalam
Budget	₹2.75 crore (equivalent to ₹4.6 crore or US$640,000 in 2019)[1]
Box office	₹15 crore (US$2.1 million)[2]

Traffic is a 2011 Indian Malayalam-language road thriller film written by brothers Bobby and Sanjay and directed by Rajesh Pillai. The film features an ensemble cast consisting of Sreenivasan, Kunchacko Boban, Rahman, Anoop Menon, Vineeth Sreenivasan, Sandhya, Roma, Remya Nambeesan, Asif Ali and Namitha Pramod.[3] 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.[4] A multi-narrative thriller that intertwines multiple stories around one particular incident, Traffic is inspired from an actual event that happened in Chennai.[5][6] Owing to its critical and commercial success, Traffic was remade into Tamil 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.[7]

Plot

On 16 September, superstar Sidharth Shankar (Rahman) gets ready for the release of his new film. On the same day, Traffic Constable Sudevan (Sreenivasan) 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 (Kunchako Boban) who is celebrating his first wedding anniversary. Raihan (Vineeth Sreenivasan), 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, Raihan and Rajeev (Asif Ali), 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 and is declared brain dead although he is kept alive using ventilator in Lakeshore Hospital Kochi. Meanwhile, Siddharth's ailing daughter Riya's (Namitha Pramod) 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 (Sandhya) 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 (Anoop Menon) 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 (Jose Prakash). Sudevan, being an experienced driver who has driven as an escort for ministers, volunteers to be the driver of the Mahindra Scorpio 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 sometime. 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 (Roma) and speaks that he had hit his wife Shwetha (Remya Nambeesan) with a car as he was infuriated with the fact that she was cheating on him with his best friend Jikku (Krishna) 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(Lena), 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. It is shown that police cannot enter the place due to its strong minority. Rajeev seems to know the place well and advises Siddharth Shankar to get the place cleared for the vehicle to move. Siddharth Shankar personally phones Thanzeer(Baiju Ezhuppuna) the Fans 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 by Thanzeer's assistance, however Rajeev is unable to board the car. Sudevan drives at high speeds and ensures that they reach Ahalya Hospital at time. Covering the challenging 150 km feat in a daunting 1 hour and 58 minutes.

It is shown that Shwetha is out of danger and has no complaints regarding the accident against Abel, thus freeing him. Rajeev is offered lift to Kochi by an unnamed man (Nivin Pauly). 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

Kunchacko Boban as Dr. Abel Thariyan, a reputed cardiac surgeon at Lakeshore Hospital, Ernakulam.
Sreenivasan as Sudevan Nair, a head constable in Kochi City Traffic Police
Vineeth Sreenivasan as Raihan Saifudeen, A journalist trainee working in Indiavision
Asif Ali as Rajeev Menon, Raihan's best friend
Anoop Menon as Ajmal Nazar IPS, the City Police Commissioner of Kochi
Rahman as Siddharth Shankar, a Malayalam Cine Megastar
Sandhya as Aditi, Raihan's girlfriend and a divorcee
Roma as Miriam, Abel's sister working in Club FM
Remya Nambeesan as Shwetha, Abel's wife.
Saikumar as Dr. Saifudeen, a surgeon and Raihan's Father.
Fathima Babu as Raihan's Mother
Lena as Shruthi, Sidharth Shankar's wife
Vijayakumar as Mathew, Private Secretary to Sidharth Shankar.
Namitha Pramod as Riya, Sidharth Shankar's daughter.
Krishna as Jicku, a common friend of Abel and Shwetha who has an affair with Shwetha.
Reena Basheer as Sudevan's wife
Nisha Sarang as Sudevan's sister
Prem Prakash as a doctor
Dr. Rony David as a Journalist
Renjith Reghu as Deepu
Mahima as Aditi's friend
Baiju Ezhupunna as Thanzeer,[8] the Siddharth Shankar Fans Club President of Bilal Colony
Jose Prakash as Dr.Simon D'souza (Guest appearance)
Nivin Pauly as a man in car (Special Appearance)
Gowri Krishnan as Sudevan's Daughter (Special Appearance)

Production

The film is directed by Rajesh Pillai.[9] Writers of the film Bobby and Sanjay, who scripted Ente Veedu Appoontem and Notebook 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."[10] They add that the film is inspired by a true incident. A similar mission was successfully carried out by the Tamil Nadu police in a more complex Chennai city.[10] Also, in a scene, the character played by Anoop Menon 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.[11] Vineeth Sreenivasan, who recently made his debut as a writer and director with Malarvadi Arts Club, 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.[10] 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."[12] The film will be the second on screen pairing of Vineeth and Sreenivasan, after their first film Makante Achan.[9] 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 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."[13] IndiaGlitz enthusiastically praised the film's "riveting plot, great performances, soulful music... and skilful direction".[14] A review at Cinefundas also praised the acting, adding that "the real hero of the film is the script".[15] Sify.com called it "an overwhelming experience" and rated it as "very good."[16] 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.[17]

Traffic was screened in the Malayalam Cinema Today section at the 16th International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK), in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala in 2011.[18]

Box office

The film became both critical and commercial success.[19][20]

Soundtrack

All lyrics are written by S. Ramesan Nair except where noted; all music is composed by Samson Kottoor except where noted.

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Artist(s)
1.	"Kannerinjal"		Mejo Joseph	Vipin Warrier, Hesham Abdul Wahab
2.	"Pakalin"	Vayalar Sarath Chandra Varma	Mejo Joseph	Sithara
3.	"Unaroo Mizhiyazhake"			Chinmayi
4.	"Unaroo Mizhiyazhake"			Samson Kottoor
5.	"Unaroo Mizhiyazhake" (Instrumental)			Kalyan
6.	"Theme Music" (Instrumental)		Samson Kottoor

Remakes

Owing to its critical and commercial success, Traffic was remade in Tamil as Chennaiyil Oru Naal (2013). Its Hindi remake, Traffic has been released in May,2016.[21][22]

Awards

Award	Category	Result	Recipient	Ref.
Kerala State Film Awards 2011	Best Screenplay	Won	Bobby-Sanjay	[23]
1st South Indian International Movie Awards	Best Director	Won	Rajesh Pillai
1st South Indian International Movie Awards	Best Actress in a Supporting Role	Won	Lena
Filmfare Awards South 2012	Best Film	Won	Listin Stephen	[24]
Filmfare Awards South 2012	Best Supporting Actress	Won	Lena Abhilash	[24]
Kerala Film Critics Awards	Best Script	Won	Bobby-Sanjay	[25]
	Second Best Actor – Male	Won	Anoop Menon
	Second Best Actor – Female	Won	Lena Abhilash
Lohithadas Award	Best Script	Won	Bobby-Sanjay	[26]
Asianet Film Awards 2012	Best Film	Nominated	Listin Stephen	[27]
	Best Director	Nominated	Rajesh Pillai
	Best Screenplay	Won	Bobby-Sanjay
	Best Supporting Actor	Nominated	Anoop Menon
	Best Supporting Actress	Nominated	Remya Nambeesan
	Best Character Actor	Nominated	Sreenivasan
Asiavision Movie Awards	Best Popular Movie	Won	Listin Stephen	[28]
	Second Best Actor	Won	Anoop Menon
	Best Screenplay	Won	Bobby-Sanjay
	Special Performance Award	Won	Rahman
	Trendsetter Award	Won	Listin Stephen
Nana Film Awards	Best Film	Won	Listin Stephen	[29]
	Best Director	Won	Rajesh Pillai
	Best Editor	Won	Mahesh Narayanan
Mathrubhumi Kalyan Silks Film Awards	Best Screenplay	Won	Bobby-Sanjay	[30]
Mathrubhumi Kalyan Silks Film Awards	Best Path Breaking Film of the Year	Nominated	Listin Stephen	[30]
Surya Film Awards	Most Popular Director	Nominated	Rajesh Pillai
Surya Film Awards	Best Editor	Won	Mahesh Narayanan
Kochi Times Awards	Best Script	Won	Bobby – Sanjay	[31]
Amrita Film Awards 2012	Best Supporting Actor (Female)	Won	Lena Abhilash	[32]
	Best Script	Won	Bobby-Sanjay
	Trendsetting Film Director	Won	Rajesh Pillai
Jaihind Film Awards 2012	Best Director	Won	Rajesh Pillai
Film Guidance Chalachitra Awards 2011	Best Supporting Actress	Won	Remya Nambeesan	[33]
Reporter TV Film Awards 2012	Best Film	Won	Listin Stephen	[34]
	Best Director	Won	Rajesh Pillai
	Best Script	Won	Bobby-Sanjay
	Best Editor	Won	Mahesh Narayanan
	Best Supporting Actress	Won	Lena Abhilash
Thikkurissy Awards 2011	Best Second Actress	Won	Sandhya

References

"2011 was troublesome for Malayalam films". CNN-News18. 4 January 2012.
Manoj Nair (21 May 2011). "Malayalam movies: Non-linear narratives are making the box-office ring louder". India Times. Economic Times.
Coming up: A complex Traffic – Rediff.com Movies
Sathyendran, Nita (3 July 2013). "Shot at direction". The Hindu. Chennai, India.
"Hithendran Incident".
"Traffic Movie Review".
"Veteran Malayalam actor Jose Prakash passes away". The Times of India. 24 March 2012.
Traffic (2011) - IMDb, retrieved 12 May 2019
"Vineeth and Sreenivasan in 'Traffic'". Indiaglitz. Retrieved 10 February 2010.
Vijay George (30 September 2010). "It happened one day..." The Hindu. Chennai, India. Retrieved 30 September 2010.
"'Traffic' to start this July". Indiaglitz. Retrieved 18 June 2010.
Vijay George (13 January 2011). "Traffic gets green signal". The Hindu. Chennai, India.
"Rajesh Pillai's Traffic is a brutally brilliant film!". Nowrunning. Retrieved 8 January 2011.
"Traffic – This is a 'Traffic' of change". IndiaGlitz. 8 January 2011.
"Traffic – Malayalam Movie Review". Archived 11 January 2011 at the Wayback Machine CineFundas.com. 7 January 2011.
Movie Review:Traffic review
Review: Traffic | MOVIERAGA
"A slice of Kerala". The New Indian Express.
"Kaavalan to Meendum Oru Kadhal Kadhai: 5 Malayalam remakes that shouldn't have been made". India Today. 28 August 2016.
"2011: Malayalam filmdom failed to script success". CNN-News18. 21 December 2011.
"Malayalam 'Traffic' to Be Remade in Tamil?". Top 10 Cinema. 1 February 2011. Archived from the original on 4 February 2011. Retrieved 2 February 2011.
"ട്രാഫിക് ഹിന്ദിയിലും". (in Malayalam) Kerala Kaumudi. 11 April 2011. Retrieved 16 April 2011.
"Kerala State Film Awards". Nowrunning.com.
"Filmfare Awards South 2012". Kollyinsider.com.
"Kerala Film Critics Awards 2012". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 18 May 2012.
"ലോഹിതദാസ് പുരസ്‌കാരം ബോബിക്കും സഞ്ജയിനും". Mathrubhumi. Archived from the original on 28 June 2012. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
"Asianet Film Awards 2011". Trivandrum.co.in.
"Asiavision Movie Awards". Asiavisionawards.com. Archived from the original on 25 January 2012.
"Nana Film Awards 2011". Nana.com. Archived from the original on 10 July 2012.
"Mathrubhumi Film Awards 2011". Sanscinema.com. Archived from the original on 14 March 2012. Retrieved 19 March 2012.
"Kochi Times Film Awards 2011". The Times of India.
"Amrita Film Awards 2012". Amritatv.com. Archived from the original on 14 October 2013.
"Film Guidance Chalachitra Award 2011". Oneindia.in.
"Reporter TV Film Awards 2012". Metromatinee.com.