Ritu's Reviews

Have you ever been to India? Well, if you haven’t…you really ARE in for a culture shock! The first thing you’ll see is a cow next to your car on the road instead of another car and a woman walking up to your window with three little kids, begging for money to feed her hungry children. The poverty in India is striking. You can’t help but question the circumstances and wonder, if all the street dwellers will ever have a job. Well guess what?! They DO have a job! Begging is their business. Madhur Bhandarkar’s TRAFFIC SIGNAL exposes the industry known as the “Beggar’s Mafia”.

I can’t say it enough when I say a Madhur Bhandarkar film is really always something out of the ordinary. He takes a subject and dives in to it with such honesty, there’s no way it won’t find an audience who’ll find it appealing. Whether it’s bar girls, politics, the glamour world, or the big bad corporate dogs, he knows how to uncover the faces behind the mask. In essence a guaranteed eye opening experience.

In TRAFFIC SIGNAL he exposes the nexus of homeless beggars, builders, politicians, the underworld mafia, and many more who thrive off of the nearly 180 crore industry. Bhandarkar once again does his homework as a storyteller and with a mix of fact and suspicion alludes you into a believable story. The magic of a Bhandarkar film lays in its realism. From the location, to the costumes, and the Bombaiya lingo, everything is authentic. The moment Traffic Signal takes off ground; you are on the grounds of Mumbai. With excellent cinematography, the dust, filth, dirt, and even the scent, is all captured.

The strengths of TRAFFIC SIGNAL are surely in it’s visual appeal, subject matter, convincing cast, and notable performances. The weakness is entirely in its plot. It’s like a donut; everything else is good, but the middle is missing. The central plot is empty leaving the course of events to seem repetitive. Day in, day out, it’s the same thing everyday, every time. Finally when the film reaches a climax, it lacks intensity and the conclusion has no resolve to the issue. However, no resolve, may in fact be the reality of the situation. It seems as if Madhur landed on a subject that caught his attention, was thought provoking, but he didn’t know where to take it from there.

What he does know to do, and do well, is extract credible performances. The entire cast clearly lives and breathes their characters, not even one performance is out of place. Kunal Khemu as the lead protagonist proves himself as a mature actor. Neetu Chandra as his love interest is adept. Konkona Sen Sharma and Ranvir Shorey take notice. Director Sudhir Mishra steps in to the shoes of an actor and proves admissible.

The film may drag at times, but the good thing is the sound-track flows with the script. “Yehi Zindaagi” & “Na Jis Din Teri Meri Baath Ho” have relevant lyrics.

Madhur doesn’t make “wholesome” cinema, for viewers who want to turn their heads the other way from the reality of the cold hard streets, and live in fictional Bollywood cinema. He doesn’t care WHO he offends and makes cinema that impacts the senses in an unforgettable way – even if it’s disturbing. Traffic Signal is a ‘go’ with a ‘green’ light on Ritu's Reviews, rounding about to 3 stars.