Movie Review - Buddha in a Traffic Jam

Attributes: Movie Reviews

Directore: Vivek Agnihotri 
Cast: Anupam Kher, Arunoday Singh, Mahie Gill, Anchal Dwivedi, and Pallavi Joshi.

'Buddha in a Traffic Jam' is a short 1.55 hour film that leaves the audience with a very strong message. It  fulfills its basic intention of not letting the audience leave without a thought to ponder upon.

The message that the movie shouts out loud is that corruption is no good in 2014 ( the film was premiered and nominated in 2014 in Mumbai International Film Festival) and that social media+youth=power to revolutionise! 

The core of the story is the tribal zone 'Bastar' - the Pottery capital where livelihood comes from the art of making selling pots, original and vintage. The movie portrays how these tribes are sandwiched between the Naxalites and Maoists and how their art can never make them rich owing to the political corruption and 'middle men' involved in the channel. 
  
Anupam Kher as Professor Ranjan Batki plays the role of a subtle villain who preaches how corruption is good to keep the economy well hydrated and is a Maoist wearing a mask of a city professor in India's prestigious Indian Institute of Business. His wife-Pallavi Joshi, the innocent Sheetal generates employment by genuinely recruiting tribal artists from Bastar for her charitable organisation. Arunodhay Singh as Vikram Pandit plays the role of Professors very bright student with fresh game changing ideas -  who is a social media marketing star basking in the glory of his 'pink bra campaign' and is being used by the Professor in his wrong motives! As Arunodhay struggles to carry the weight of the entire movie, Anupam Kher and Mahie Gill definitely cover the gaps. 

The movie takes a fresh turn when Vikram suggests online marketing for Bastar, cutting down on middle men for making profits. At that point, Ranjan and Charu's Maoism and underlying anti political agenda, corruption and wrong motives starts opening the cards. 

The film is wrapped show casing a helpless Ranjan who has to either kill Vikram to accept the fact that in this modern era of strong social networking and technology, middle men won't prosper! The film ends with a note how people can't be exploited anymore and that the money will only flow in the right direction - hence marking the beginning of a new revolution! 

The senior actors justify their acting skill but the movie could've been made a lot more interesting by a little more intense story plotting, cutting down on some over exaggerating lifestyle ways of MBA goons and throwing unnecessary F words! Since the message goes to the younger generation as well, the film could've been easily made avoiding the A rating. 

Overall - we feel the movie is a good one time watch.

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