Amol Within the labyrinths of
cynicism and chaotic unaccountability, in the midst of a nation of finger
pointers, society still nurtures heroes and thereby hope. These heroes are
necessarily not the ones who hoist flags on buildings or summits, not those
earn gold medals and trophies and open champagne bottles Oscars and glitter
statues but simple next door people. People like these who squeeze in a minor
footnote in history where chapters are dedicated to villains. Traffic is a
salute to this human spirit. Cinematically told with the right mix of drama
through a terse script it leaves us with a feeling that all is not lost, yet.
Each day as we open up our morning daily there is the inevitable report of a
life lost in an accident somewhere. Here, life is a number. Its repeated
occurrence and reportage has completely numbed us until it touches someone near
and dear. Even a known name, a seen face, a passing acquaintance does not
linger beyond the morning sandwich. Life is precarious.
Rajesh Pillai offers posthumously the real life story of a young life stifled
by the jaws of death through a road accident and the fight to life by a
teenager girl. The simultaneous growth graph of the respective challenges in
less than two hours propagates the need for more awareness on organ transplant.
Even a real life incident from Chennai is fictionalised, we have an engrossing
drama unfold.
Dr. Ali and his wife (Sachin Kardekar and Kitu Gidwani) find their life
shattered when their only son Revan (Vishal Singh) is thrown off the motorbike
and suffers a fatal head injury. His friend Rajeev (Amol Parasher) is saved –
thanks to the helmet he is wearing. The streets of Mumbai are thus witness to
just another road accident – reason enough for ongoers to take pictures on
their cell phones. In Pune we have a 16 year old Ria (Ulka Gupta) on the death
bed suffering from ‘dilated cardio myopathy’. A heart transplant is what the
doctors have ordered. Ria is the daughter of a famous matinee idol Dev Kumar
(Prasonjit Chaterjee) and Maya (Divya Dutta). Also some minor players in the
game include a live in partner for Reyan in Aditi (Nikita Thukral), the
hospital head Dr D Souza (Vikram Gokhale). There is also a young cardio surgeon
Dr Abel Fernandez (Parambar Chaterjee), his wife (Richa Panai) and his sister
Maria (Kaveri).
With the dying Rayan identified as the possible donor of the heart to the dying
Ria the challenge is how to go about asking the grieving parent for the
donation and then the bigger challenge to take the transplant organ within the
180 minutes through the mad roads of Mumbai to Pune. The Police Chief Gurbir
Singh (Jimmy Shergill) after the initial hesitation agrees to execute the
project but finds no takes in his team. Only one hand goes up – Ramdas Godbole
(Manoj Bajpayee) a police constable who has just returned to duty after being
suspended on graft charges. Even the execution is planned out to a nicety, and
is kick started there is an Achanak hiccup in the execution. A small side story
threatens to derail the execution.
The film is viewable without doubt. It leaves behind a fine message of bravery
and courage. It sensitises us about organ donation, use of helmets and the need
to be human in our lives. Watch it. The film makes us feel human. If it
disappoints it is because the characters are hardly etched with flesh and some
performances are far below expected standards. On the one hand we have the
likes of Manoj, Jimmy Shergill, Divya Dutta and Sachin give their best and on
the other we have Parambar Chaterjee, Prasonjit Chaterjee not mustering even
the minimum
Yet investing about 106 minutes is worth the while and it is tale told without
much ado and is gripping till it lasts.
Rating 3 stars.
_ cast
+ the narrative and its content.
L. Ravichander.