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 Title
Traffic Signal
Cast Neetu Chandra, Kunal Khemu, Konkona Sen Sharma, Ranvir Shorey,
Sudhir Mishra, Upyendra Limaye, D Santosh
Director Madhur Bhandarkar
Genre Drama
Year 2007
Traffic Signal depicts life on the streets of Mumbai through a traffic signal,
where all kinds of people live, survive, jostle and yet remain human. A
hard-hitting film that exposes the underbelly of Mumbai.
In a day scores of people go past multitudes of Traffic Signal's scattered all
over the city. People sitting in their vehicles impatiently wait to get going.
Though this waiting lasts but a few minutes it feels like a lifetime to them.
However unknown to them there thrives an industry that derives its livelihood
from these people waiting at the Traffic Signals. The work force of this
industry is not less than that of an average sized multinational. It comprises
of a gamut of people thrown in together by fate or hunger. There are oddities to
the likes of eunuchs, handicapped and impaired beggars, lepers, street kids,
drug addicts, and prostitutes, vendors selling flowers, fruits, sunscreens to
sunglasses.
Yet it doesn't end there. There is an intriguing world lurking behind all the
poverty seen at these traffic signals.
Each signal is said to have a manager who collects a certain percentage of the
day's revenue from each of those working at the signal. The pecking order
broadens further and each manager is supposed to hand over his weekly collection
to the person who is in charge of the region that covers a dozen or more
signals. The ladder is raised in its hierarchy and the collector of each region
deposits the money with the local Mafioso, (a local king pin) who then ensures
that it reaches offshore to his master.
Traffic Signal is a story of one such signal, which is representative of all
other signals around the city. Silsila (Kunal Khemu) a young orphan, who was
born and who took his first tiny step at the signal is now its manager. For him
the Signal is his workplace and a home where he lived. He's a sensitive soul
with a heart of gold who considers the people like his family. He loves all
those working at the signal, which in a way is his family but would spare nobody
when it comes to business. He has a mentor, named Jaffar, who also is the
collector of his region. Both he and Jaffar work for the local Mafioso, Haji and
would even lay down their lives for him. Inherent in the social structure, lies
a nexus between the local Mafia and Politicians, though at that level Silsila is
almost nonexistent. Yet by a force of circumstance Silsila gets drawn into the
bigger game and finds himself to be responsible for the annihilation of his own
world, something to which he's dedicated his life.
Silsila is in love with a young girl (Neetu Chandra) who owns a small embroidery
business in the city. An engineer with honest values arrives to prevent a
flyover from being constructed. Silsila is then asked by Haji to eliminate him.
Silsila agrees and finishes him off only to realize that the builder and
politician plan to displace the street children. Now with the help of the
children, Silsila takes on the corrupt system. His deeds are irreversible and he
would most certainly not be able to get things back to normal.
   
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