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By IndiaFM News Bureau, December 6, 2006 - 12:30 IST
Character Sketch
 Kunal
Khemu as Silsila
He was a mere ten days old when his parents were
rendered homeless owning to a zealous anti –
encroachment drive from the Municipal Corporation of
Mumbai. The family shifted with the others to another
locality on the Kelkar Marg. Having spent a number of
days with inadequate food and no hope in the future;
his mother took to begging at the Kelkar Marg signal.
Lugging a ten day baby in hand proved to be an
incentive as it aroused sympathy and both the mother
and son made good money, good at least in their
present condition.
Ever since he was a kid, Silsila was everybody’s
favorite. After his mother’s death he was virtually
adopted by ‘Mausi’, a respected and elderly old woman
in the ‘basti’. (or community) But the one person who
adored and protected him the most was Jaffar, the
local ruffian dreaded in the locality.
In the film Silsila plays the Manager of the Kelkar
Marg Signal. A manager is one who collected revenue
from all those making money at the signal, whether by
begging or vending knick-knacks. Although his job was
limited to collecting money, Silsila went beyond. For
him everybody living in the Kelkar Marg locality was
like a family. He looked after their needs, found
pleasure in their happiness and made their sorrows as
him own.
Neetu Chandra as Rani
She came to the city of dreams with a purpose. A wish
to make some money so that she could go back to her
hometown and settle for good. Her sister Chutki who
helps her sell traditional garments that they have
bought from their hometown in Gujrat accompanies her.
Unknown to the ways of the city life she displays her
wares at the roadside and gets snubbed by Silsila who
tells her that she’d have to pay a percentage of her
earnings as a rule. Their first meeting ends in a
scrap, but things become amicable as time goes by and
eventually they fall in love. It is with Rani’s
strength and support that Silsila stands up against
all odds to challenge the system.
Storyline
Take a walk down its mean streets and one gets the
essence of Mumbai; pause a while at one of its Traffic
Signal and one gets the essence of life. 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 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. His deeds are
irreversible and he would most certainly not be able
to get things back to normal.
What would Silsila do in such a situation? Someone who
had never hurt anybody in his lifetime. A person with
a heart of gold who was left to fend for himself and
the future of those who’d been devastated because of
him. Silsila being a practical person knows that he
can never take on Haji who is too powerful and way
beyond him. Yet no matter what and how he has to get
his life and the lives of his family at the Traffic
Signal back on track how he gets around to do it is
the summing up of the film Traffic Signal.
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