Traffic review: Tight script, stellar performances make it a must-watch

Traffic
Director: Late Rajesh Pillai
Cast: Manoj Bajpayee, Divya Dutta, Parambrata Chatterjee, Prosenjit Chatterjee, Jimmy Sheirgill, Kittu Gidwani and Vikram Gokhale
Rating: 4/5

A remake of the 2011 Malayalam film by the same name, Traffic is about the victory of determination and goodwill over human insecurities. It is a rare gripping thriller in Bollywood that also touches the right emotional chords.

Rajesh Pillai’s film, based on a real-life incident, is about people who meet due to tragedies in their lives. An accident intertwines their fates and the movie traces their journey towards saving one.

The cast – Manoj Bajpayee, Divya Dutta, Jimmy Sheirgill, Parambrata Chatterjee, Prosenjit Chatterjee, Amol Parashar, Sachin Khedekar, Kittu Gidwani and Vikram Gokhale – has delivered a stellar performance.

Divya Dutta and Kittu Gidwani will move you to tears with their acting skills.

While Divya and Sachin make you feel the pain of parents scared for their children’s lives, Parambrata is brilliant with his portrayal of love and loss as he realises his wife was cheating on him with his own best friend. Manoj and Jimmy don’t have as much time on screen as others but their acting skills set them apart. Prosenjit fits effortlessly into his role as a superstar whose stardom does little to save his kid.

Manoj Bajpayee in a still from Traffic.

Suresh Nair, who adapted the Malayalam screenplay for the Hindi movie, has kept the script tight and narrative gripping. The build-up to the road mission to transport a heart sets the premise for all the characters and tells us about their lives. This portion drags at times but some good acting ensures we are not distracted.

You’d think covering 160 kilometres between Mumbai and Pune in peak traffic in two hours to transport a heart is too ambitious a project. But the traffic police managed a similar task in 2008 when they transported a heart from Chennai to Bengaluru for a transplant in record time.

Read: Manoj Bajpayee turns traffic cop for a day

Traffic does not preach or boast but it touches hearts. Watch it for the emotional connect, and of course, the wonderful performances.

Watch the trailer of the film

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First Published: May 06, 2016 15:35 IST