Traffic directed by late Rajesh Pillai is now releasing, the director passed away early this year. He directed Traffic, thriller in Malyalam and made a remake in Hindi in 2014. The starcast Manoj Bajpai, Divya Dutta along with other actors came on the trailer launch of the event and shared that this film is special.
Manoj said, “I want to assure the makers from the side of the entire cast that we will promote the film and give our full support to the film. I am sure Rajesh is watching from above and making things happen.”
Talking about any incident that he remembers with the traffic cops he said, “I underestimate myself so when my driver makes mistakes which he does once in a while I get to hear because of him. A lot of times it happens that the traffic cops stop the car and once the window is rolled down they look inside and then they look again and recognise me and say make your driver understand he shouldn’t make these mistakes. Toh mujhey daant sunna padti hai uski wajah se.
Once I actually asked the cops to keep his dricing license to teach him a lesson.”
On being asked if he has or will bribe a traffic cop he said, “I don’t bribe, I am a very straightforward person. If you make a mistake accept it. No need to bribe. I will pay the fine if my driver is caught but will never pay bribe to bail him out.”
Orignially in Malayalam, Traffic was remade into Tamil and Kannada.The Hindi version seems to exude the aura of street angst. It ventures into a real life story of girl who needed an urgent heart transplant. Interestingly Traffic releases a week ahead of Vivek Agnihotri’s Buddha In a Traffic Jam (traffic-stoppers’ month in May) and a week after the S Ramanujan bio-pic The Man Who Knew Infinity which is also a story of indomitable courage in the face of adversity.
Manoj Bajpai still can’t believe the director Rajesh Pillai was gone so soon. “I am still in shock and disbelief. I just can’t come to terms with the fact that he is gone so suddenly. Rajesh was such a passionate filmmaker. He gave priority to his cinema over everything else , including his health. Now that we are looking at the release of the film I miss him more than ever. God bless his soul.”
Divya Dutta who plays the mother of the girl who needs the heart transplant lost the director and her mother at around the same time. “Traffic is a very special film. Rajesh was such a lovely man. He possessed a rare childlike innocence. And he was so engrossed in the making of the film. Wish he was here to see its release.”
