 "A lot of heart, but not enough")
In 2009, the Chennai Police pulled off a logistical miracle. The city's roads were swept clear for a couple of hours to make way for the transportation of a beating heart from one hospital to another. The 2011 Malayalam film, Traffic, recounted that story, albeit in the different setting of Kochi. The 2016 version - this time in Hindi - sets off on a similar journey.
Traffic weaves together the life stories of several individuals, all in the hope of a successful heart transplant : a young TV journalist (Vishal Singh) and his doting parents (Sachin Khedekar and Kitu Gidwani), a film star (Prosenjit Chatterjee) and his wife's (Divya Dutta) relentless pursuit to get a heart for their dying daughter, an unassuming cardiac surgeon (Parambrata Chatterjee) who eventually ends up trying to kill his own wife, and a Mumbai traffic constable (Manoj Bajpayee), who would do anything to shun the corrupt image he has ignominiously carved out for himself. The film is directed by Rajesh Pillai, who ironically died while filming this mortality-centred tale in February this year.
The story begins with journalist Reyhan Ali getting hit by a car while travelling for a work assignment, and ending up in hospital, desperately fighting for his life. With chances of survival incredibly slim, his parents decide to give him a farewell gift - offering his heart to young Riya, the daughter of superstar Dev Kapoor. Traffic is the story of the mad scramble and the improbable twists that the Mumbai Police endures in making the seemingly impossible possible.
Even though the storyline is almost identical to the original, Traffic lacks the pulsating kick that riveted the audience so effectively five years ago. The first half, with an unwieldy build-up, is agonisingly slow. What keeps you glued is a performance of genuine brilliance from Khedekar, who despite a somewhat limited role, infuses much-needed verve into the film. The despair theme features deeply throughout, with the two sets of anguished parents - each at the different end of this draining emotional rollercoaster - somehow holding Traffic together.
Bajpayee, in his role as traffic constable Godbole, is mighty efficient, though not eye-poppingly outstanding. His precarious redemption act - all to make his daughter proud - is the kind of bittersweet subplot that may compel you to watch Traffic. The second half, though, goes past you quite briskly. If the one before the intermission is like the mellow breeze on a sunny day, the second is akin to a beastly hurricane that sweeps you off your feet.
Before the film's release, writer Suresh Nair, who adapted it into Hindi, said he had made "slight enhancements in the feel and action content to ensure commercial viability". The action, however, is largely insipid, and the actors carrying it out horribly out of place. The frantic running around that Amol Parashar - who plays best friend to the deceased Ali - does while carrying the heart to Pune is unnecessary.
Jimmy Shergill, the one actor who could have added that spark, spends all his time in the control room, as Joint Commissioner Gurbir Singh. The control room you would imagine, in an operation as hazardous as this, would be the focal point of the film. Instead, it ends up as a sorry subplot that is plagued by raspy cheers and embarrassing fist pumps. Mithoon's music, however, is a timely saviour in some scenes.
Where Traffic succeeds is in its genuine warmth; it makes you think more profoundly about life and death. Overall, it is a tearjerker that promises so much on the outset, but ends up falling prey to a middling script and ineffective performances. Yet, Traffic doesn't quite leave you once it's done. No, not the film. The deafening horns of the cars that you encounter while driving back home. That traffic.
