Traffic Signal - better drive down Mumbai’s Linking Rd.
Cast - Kunal Khemu, Neetu Chandra, Konkona Sen Sharma, Ranvir Shorey + extras from Page 3 and Corporate + few freelance journalists
I loved Chandni Bar. Thought Page 3 was good. Corporate was ok. Traffic Signal(TS)…..Madhur needs to push the red button here. And I just hope that he still remembers the basic rule of crossing any Signal before he decides to move on to his next film…Fashion - look right, then look left, look right again and then cross it. You just cant do it in hurry, putting things your way. And am not counting Trishakti, Satta and Aan here.
Traffic Signal has no story to begin with. Its only characaters and setting. Madhur takes too much time to set up the premise of the film. And there are so many, I mean so many characters that the first half goes in establishing all of them. It revolves around a traffic signal and all sorts of people for whom the signal is the only source of livelihood. Mumbai’s Mid-day, strawberries, books, rangolis, gajras, gujrati ethnic designs, sex , eunuchs, beggars, mafia don - its all here. Post-interval the story moves a little forward but then it ends abruptly. Songs are really bad and you dont need them at all. As far as actors are concerned - Konkona, Ranvir, Kunal and Neetu cant save this film because the problem here is the script.
Good thing about TS is that its a new subject, opens up a new world. If you are not from Mumbai, you cant think about it also. Dialogues are well written and sometimes really funny. Characters are drawn from real life except for those high class people whom he caricatures in all his films. But with every new subject Madhur is following the old formula. I dont know why filmmakers draw conclusion that there is formula for a hit film. After Page 3’s critical and commercial success, Madhur’s Corporate tried to do the same - the same formula - drivers were replaced with peons, sex starved high class, little bit on sensation and one emotional track. TS also has similar things. Whats worst, the same guys who were in Page 3 and Corporate are also here.
TS also has little bit of hundred issues - Mumbai’s flood, Tsunami, Bangaldeshis illegal immigration, police-politician-builders mafia, street gangwar and many such ones. They dont gel well and looks forced many times. If you really want to watch TS, go with absolutely no expectations. May be few characters and some funny dialogues. Thats it!
Its a choice between spending two hours inside the theatre watching TS or if you happen to be in Mumbai then just drive down the Linking Road from Bandra to Andheri…..its the same.
Also there are atleast half a dozen journalists alongwith Madhur’s secretary and his few good friends (including filmmaker Sudhir Mishra) who have made their debut in TS. Now is that a new strategy to cut out the budget ?
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10 Responses to “Traffic Signal - better drive down Mumbai’s Linking Rd.”
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totally agree to it…..few good one-liners and thats it. Also the film is using the TS set(i guess) which does not look visually good in the film.
red halt…..the signal never turned green
Agree with rising…
the set was not at all good. It looked like a madeup one. Few more things:
1) Kunal Kemmu and his voice. He is still a bacchha yaar. Having a good physique doesnt really qualify him to be a man. His voice is too boyish.
2)The Love Story. Was there any need? And if it was there, when and how did it bloom? One act of good deed and you pocket a girl. Is that how love blossoms? Madhur went too FILMY here.
b)And how did the lyrics of the song fit to such a short noted love story?
3)Do you really think Sudhir Mishra is a good actor?
4)Dialogues. What rubbish? 70% of the total dialogues comprised of the phrase ‘chal chal’ suffixed before anything like ‘kalti maar’, ‘bahut ho gaya tera’, etc. etc. I guess the share of dialogues that had come to each actor was so less that they had to fill in that odd silence with the ‘chal chal’.
5)Many scenes went too artificial. E.g. the one when Kemmu is taken in custody. His final Good Bye Scene.That too was so very typical. A oneliner good bye to each of the characters to establish their realtion with the boy. These relations were never shown blossoming in the earlier part. ( Its a very ghisa peeta Hinid movie ishtyle of arranging all the public in a line and then the protagonist bids a god bye to each one of them with a line that relates to some emotional scene that had taken place betn the two. )
6)And much more….Will keep on posting as they strike me.
I actually liked this movie, although I don’t know if I would have liked it so much if it weren’t a matinee.
A pleasant, humourous exploration of the daily lives of those people whose lives cross at a traffic signal. Funny dialogues, good acting, a good, fast paced story. Nothing great, but not bad, either.
In fact, I think this could have been a great movie if I could have emotionally connected with any of the characters, but I didn’t.
Don’t rush to the theater for this one, but it is a good rainy day rental.
to answer your last question:
erm, does not Sudhir say something like”Bhikari Bhikari Ko Madad Nahi Karega tho..” in the film? :-\”
Agree with Asmit…Everything in the movie was yawningly artificial..right from the sets to chemistry between actors to dialogs to Sudhir Mishra to Music…the only thing natural was the name of the movie “Traffic Signal”…
Why was the track of Konkona and Ranvir there..when they don’t even “hangout” on “that” traffic signal…what us up with that Nasar Abdullah track? Just to show the difference of lifes inside the window and outside the window of the car? As oz says..there was no hook-point in the movie…
@Asmit….compltly agree. Asmit, that scene was one of the worst scenes….when Kunal Khemu says bye bye to all.
@OM, like Naseer lot of other tracks also had no meaning and were so fake. Looks like they wrote the whole script in the time gap of red and green light.
@OM
Very right…Konkona and Ranvir…wt d hell? Ranvir’s entry in d film seemed as if he fell off a cliff and landed in d movie…no gradual rise in the portaying of the character…he just bumped in (or rather we across him)
I guess the Madhur tried to make a futile use of the Konkona hype after Mr & Mrs Aiyer and 15, Park Avenue. Here, she had nothing to do. Just stand there. The scene when she comes out of the van after sitting with her customer didnt even touch my eyes, forget the heart. they couldnt even think of disturbing her lipstick a bit as a consequence. Urghhh!!!! Such faulty work and they release it?
Shame on Indian Film Industry (Mind it!!! I never said Indian Cinema);)
Sorry for “the madhur”…was in a bit of hurry…
@ Asmit :d
“The scene when she comes out of the van after sitting with her customer”
Was she just sitting? 
I am sure she was doing more :))