Buddha in a Traffic Jam is a 2016 Indian political thriller film written and directed by Vivek Agnihotri. The film released nationwide on 13 May 2016.
The film narrates a tale of inter-meddling of academia with corruption and Maoism. The film received negative reviews from critics.
Plot
Vikram Pandit (Arunoday Singh) is a happy-go-lucky management student from a business school in India. He becomes an overnight sensation after a successful social media campaign against the radical fundamentalism of moral policing in India. Little did Vikram know that he was about to become a part of a plot that would risk his life and the nation. He gets entangled between two facets of India—Socialism and Capitalism, both of which are deeply rooted in isolated corners of the country.
Somewhere deep within the jungles, flagrant conspirators were gearing up to maim the Country. They had established links with the patrician society. Vikram's internet campaign pulls him into a very deep web of conspiracy.
The film revolves around Vikram's survival in the sinister designs of the establishment.
Cast
Arunoday Singh as Vikram Pandit
Mahi Gill as Charu Siddhu
Anupam Kher as Professor Ranjan Batki
Pallavi Joshi as Sheetal Batki, wife of Ranjan Batki. Vivek Vaswani Anchal Dwivedi Gopal K Singh as Naxal chief Indal Singh as Nanhe Singh, political leader
Production
Development
Nisha Susan of Pink Chaddi Campaign fame recalled someone from Indian School of Business, claiming to work at a film incubator having emailed her a few years back, about a prospective film centred on her campaign. The plot went (roughly): A young idealistic student is in a bar, where a bunch of right-wing goons assault girls. The student vanquishes the goons and follows up with a Facebook campaign against misogyny, which commands considerable fame. He is subsequently approached by the Naxals who convert and ask him to mould the urban youth in Maoist ideology; by the virtue of his gained fame and charisma. The part about Naxals was a creative addition, and Susan had replied that while he was free to make a movie about the themes, she found it surprising that a campaign which was run by numerous women, in reality, was to be run by a single man in the film. He replied that a woman-run campaign was apparently not realistic.
In an interview with Hindustan Times, Vivek said that while he was delivering a lecture at Indian School of Business about Naxal influence in academia, the students suggested to sketch out a 10-minute short film. That idea gradually morphed into the thoughts of producing a full-fledged feature film. Agnihotri has asserted of the film to be modeled on his own life though one of his co-producers has denied it.
Vivek and the students went on a drive to collect funds before meeting Suresh Chukkapalli who agreed to produce it. Vivek felt that convincing producers to support a non-star content-driven film was difficult.
Casting
Filming
The title was chosen as a metaphor alluding to the commotion that engulfs the students of various universities. Around eighty per cent of the film was shot at Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad and the total budget was about five crore INR.
Soundtrack
Pallavi Joshi made her singing debut in the film with the song Chand Roz, a ghazal written by Faiz Ahmad Faiz.
Tour and release
Certification
The Central Board of Film Certification passed the film without any cuts. Agnihotri claimed that certain objectionable content including the likes of extreme language and extreme sex scenes were allowed to stay as the board members were sympathetic to the message of the film.
University tour and controversies
Reportedly, whilst many distributors initially promised to distribute the film, many later backed out on grounds of the controversial topic. Barjatya productions came to the aid but later withdraw their offer. He then chose to tour across different colleges and universities across the nation and screen the film; due to an alleged lack of marketing capital. The film premiered at IIT Bombay on 6 April 2016. These screening of the films with the help of political unions, who have had a reputation for instigating violence, have been criticized. and the screenings have been protested against.