Malayalam Movie Review Traffic Malayalam - Cast & Crew

Namitha Pramod, born to Pramod and Indu on 19th September 1996 in Thiruvananthapuram is a Malayalam actress who rose to fame through television. She started her acting career when she was in her 7th grade by appearing in the very popular fictional Christian Devotional teleserial  Velankanni Mathavu. She appeared as Mathavu in the serial and was accepted by the Malayalam television viewers. After that she played the role of goddess Devi in Amme Devi, portraying her character through her expressive eyes. She acted as Anjali in Ente Manasaputhri, a very popular serial in Asianet directed by Baiju Devaraj. She chose to play it safe as she did not overwork and put her education at stake. 

She entered the big screen through the movie Traffic, a trend setter movie which revolved aroud the theme of organ donation and heart transplant. She played the character Riya, the dying daughter of Rahman and Lena, which gave a lot for her to perform. Even though it was a short character role, her performance got noticed. Her first lead role, the Sathyan Anthikkad movie Puthiyatheerangal with a coastal lifestyle as the backdrop, brought her back to Malayalam movie industry as a promising heroin. She played the role of Thamara a fisherwoman opposite Nivin Pauly. Later she had a series of movies; in Sound Thoma with Dilip; a Mohiniyattam dancer in Pullipulikalum Aattinkuttiyum; as a modern, city bred college student in Law point with Kunchako Boban. Her very recent movies are Villaliveeran with Dilip in which she plays the character of Namratha, Dilip’s love interest; a Konkani speaking girl Deepika opposite Dulquer Salman in Vikramadithyan, which is still running in the theaters. All of her movies are box office hits and she holds a position among the top 5 actresses of 2013. She appears to be a Promising and Lucky actress in the Malayalam movie industry after her back to back hits. Her movie Ormayundo Ee Mugham with Vineeth Sreenivasan, a romantic comedy musical entertainer, is scheduled for release on 14 November 2014. 

As every other new budding heroines in Malayalam, Namitha has made her debut in Tamil also. Her first Tamil movie is En Kadhal Pudhithu, directed by Maaris Kumar which she had done before becoming popular in Malayalam did not give her promising start. But she says that she has offers pouring in from the Tamil Industry, but she does not have dates for now.

She has won many awards like Amrita TV Film awards for New Face of the Year in 2013 for portraying Thamara, and Asianet Film award for Popular actress for her acting in Pullipulikalum Aatinkuttiyum.   Namitha is continuing her education along with acting. She joined for Bachelor’s degree in sociology at St Theresa’s college in 2014. She says that even though she could not attend classes regularly till now due to her busy schedule, she will not compromise with her studies. She has a younger sister Ankitha who is her very big fan and critic.

Remya Nambeesan is a chirpy young Indian actress, whose primary focus is Mollywood. Born on January 1, 1986, Remya Nambeesan was introduced into the film industry with the 2000 Malayalam flick Sayahnam. R Sarath helmed direction for this flick. After that, she went on to work in various Malayalam films as a child artiste. Then she was seen in insignificant supporting roles including Narendran Makan Jayakanthan Vaka, Gramophone, etc. She had worked under the direction of Sarath for three times. Eventually, she got lead roles since the year 2006. 

Roma Asrani is a Mollywood actress who was a model in her career before making her foray into movies. She also acted in Telugu, Tamil and Kannada language films. But she got maximum offers from Malayalam film industry only. Although she had made her debut with Telugu movie Mr. Errababu (2005), the actress got the offer from other regional languages too and made debut in a Tamil film with ‘Kathale En Kathale’(2006) and her first Kannada film was ‘Aramane’ (2007). Despite having signed different projects in various languages, she shot to fame with a Malayalam movie 'Notebook' which was a film that depicted the life of three students at a boarding school, and how they face up to challenges in their lives. The central plot of the movie was on three students Roma, Parvathy and Mariya Roy. The film won critical acclaim and even fared well in box office. Roma received a couple of awards for her performance in this film and even won new talent debut award from Kerala TV channels. Her next movie ‘Chocolate’ was a mega hit and she became a sensational female star in Mollywood. She became a teenage craze in viewer’s eyes with film ‘Chocolate’.

Lena Abhilash is known for her character Jancy played in the hit mega serial Omanathinkalpakshi where she played along with the famous actress Sreevidya. She has won accolades for playing several characters in Television and Cinema. She won the Kerala State Film Awards in 2013 as Best Actress in supporting role for her roles in Left right Left and Kanyaka Talkies. She won the Filmfare Award and Amrita TV Award in 2011 as Second Best Actress Award for the movie Traffic.

She won the Kerala State TV Award in 2008 for Best Actress for her role in Aranazhika Neram telecasted on Amrita TV, and in the same year, she received Atlas Film Critics TV Award as Second Best Actress for her role in Chilluvilaku. She has been doing plays and films since her school days. Her first movie was Sneham directed by Jeyaraj. In the later years too, she did more movies with Jeyaraj like Karunam, and Shantam. She took a break from acting to complete her education. She is a Postgraduate in Clinical Psychology, and she has worked in a hospital as a Psychologist before reentering movies as a full-time actress.

Another version Of Bio

Being one of the most appreciated faces in the Malayalam film industry, since 1998, this veteran actress was born to Tina and T.Mohan Kumar. She had been serving the film industry since 1998. Her debut was in the film Sneham by Jayaraj. Her carrier did not seem to look down on her since then. There were rapid follow ups after Sneham in 1998.

Kunchacko Boban is a handsome young guy who got introduced as a hero in the Malayalam movie, Aniyatthipraavu, in the year 1997. His first movie was the most populous director Fazil, and the film is a super hit, with Shalini, alongside. Before his debut as a hero, he has acted in Dhanya, as a child artist. He is loved by all his female fans for his cute smile and tiny expressions that boost his beauty. This charming guy is the grandson of the popular film producer Kunchacko. His grandpa’s studio is the first studio in Kerala. Kunchacko Boban’s father is also a person who is related to the film industry through acting and production. Anu and Mini are his siblings. Kunchacko Boban is married to Priya Ann from the year 2005. After marriage, Kunchacko Boban had a break to cinemas and came back after three years. Kunchacko Boban had a cameo appearance in the movie of the big shots, Mamooty and Mohanlal in Harikrishnans. This film has a special feature, as it rejoined Mamooka and Lalettan after nine years. The film Law point gave him a good break and How Old Are You showed him as a selfish husband. Whatever roles are given to him, whether negative or positive, heroic or villainy, Kunchacko Boban did it well.Chirakodinja Kinavukal and Birds With Large Wings are his latest ventures.

Actor Sreenivasan is a Malayalam actor who had ruled the regional cinema graph for over 25 years and has earned the credit of having acted in over 200 films so far. But he never attributes his success even once for the quantity of films that he had done so far. He is an actor who lacked star appeal always. Instead of relying on his looks, he concentrated more on his talent that helped him carve a niche in Mollywood. He could perform any character on screen whether it is a villain role or a comedy role which drew a parallel recognition when compared with the ranks of superstars.

Vineeth Srinivasan is known to the music industry for his popular and hit song, Karale, karalinte. Being the son of film star Sreenivasan, he never had even thought of singing as a career. But of course, he likes popular Hindi songs and admires voice of K.J. Jesudas, Brad Paisley, and Udit Narayan.

Asif Ali is a model –turned actor who was brought into the film by iconic director Shyamaprasad and Sathyan Anthikkad. Later on, he featured in some successful Malayalam movies and made his way to stardom. Though he was not a superstar, his image of a chocolate boy in a movie ‘Salt N Pepper' seems to be best suited to him as he is very cute and innocent-looking. But unfortunately, he was given to play scary characters that had gray and negative shades. 

Known for his good looks and easy-going personality, the actor did not get box office success for his films like 'Hi I'm Tony’, ‘Mosayile Kuthirameenukal’ and ‘Pakida' which is supposed to be his best films. That is one reason he could not be graded as a superstar. Known for his handsome looks, the actor had graduated from foreign university and had previously appeared in video commercial and small film roles. This actor had too many dramatic projects too such as Siby Malayil’s ‘Violin' that marked a milestone for the actor as he played the solo lead for the first time in his career. Even in S Siby Malayil ‘s ‘Apoorvaraagam' and Sathyan Anthikkad ‘s ‘Kadha Thudarunnu' and Aashiq Abu's ‘Salt n' Pepper, he got raving reviews from critics and audiences, as all these films were family-oriented dramas on screen. 

The actor has done cameo roles in five films. In between 2012-14, he had signed maximum film projects that made him a very star which went to earn him many buzzworthy roles which put him in the club of established actor in Mollywood. In 2015, he appeared in four successful movies such as Double Barrel, You Too Brutus, Kohinoor and Nirnayakam, which allowed him to try something new in commercial cinema. In 2013, he tied his knot with Zama Mazreen, and now the couple is blessed with a boy. The actor was born on 4th February 1986, to M. P. Shoukath Ali and Molly in Kerala.

Anoop Menon is an Indian film actor, script writer and lyricist born on Aug 3, 1977 in Kozhikode and bought up in Thiruvananthapuram. Anoop is a law graduate and completed his degree in Government law college, Thiruvananthapuram. During his academic years he was anchoring shows in Kairali TV and Surya TV. 

He started his career by playing a leading role in a popular Malayalam TV serial called “Swapnam” broadcasted by Asianet. Anoop made his debut as a script writer in the movie “Pakal Nakshatrangal” in which Mohanlal got Mathrubhumi award and Kerala film critic award for best actor. 

Anoop Menon made his debut as an actor through the Malayalam movie “Kattuchembakam” in the year 2002. He acted in around 7-8 movies, including “Pakal Nakshatrangal” for which he wrote the script. He has acted in 48 Malayalam films till date and in a Hindi movie “Anubhav” in 2009. 

The movie “Thirakkatha” and the role “Ajay Chandran” was a real break for the actor in his career. The movie plot was based on the big time romance of the actor Kamal Haasan and the late actress “Srividya” in late 70’s. The film won the National award for best feature film and the actress “Priyamani” won the Filmfare award for her character “Malavika” in the year 2009. 

He played “Ravi Abraham” in the movie beautiful which bought a new hit combo in Mollywood, Anoop Menon and Jayasurya. Later on, they appeared together in 4 movies, including “David and Goliath” and “Hotel California”, which portrayed a low profile at the box office but all the other movies were box office hits. Currently, the hit duo has taken a small break from teaming up. His upcoming projects are Dolphin and She-Taxi. He was lyricist in the movies “Beautiful”, “Namukku Parkkan” and “Buddy” and he won the best lyricist award for the song Mazhaneer Thullikal from the movie “Beautiful”.

Saikumar is a renowned Malayalam actor born in Kollam district of Kerala. Born to actor father Kottakaram Sreedharan Nair, he married Prasanna Kumari in the year 1988. After ten years long marriage he divorced her, making Actress Bindu Panicker his wife in the year 2009. However, his previous marriage did not end on good terms facing a lot of legal difficulties. He also had a daughter, Vaishnavi with Prasanna Kumari. His ex- wife had also blamed actress Bindu on worsening their marriage.

Vijayakumar is a very famous actor in Tamil films and television serials. He has acted in more than 400 movies in very popular characters, from child roles to hero roles to supporting roles to father roles to grandfather roles. You name any famous artist in Tamil, Vijayakumar would have acted with him or her. That is the reach he had in the Tamil filmdom.

Vijayakumar’s real name was Panchaksharam Ranaswamy. He wanted to act in movies from a very young age and apparently acted in a movie as a child artist. But, not many called him for future films, so he was discouraged and went back to his home town. Later, when he was a young person, he returned to try movies where he got some very good offers. Movies such as Aval Oru Thodarkathai, Ponnukku Thanga manasu, gave him a good break. After that he started appearing in popular movies regularly. He even acted as hero in some movies. He also acted in few Telugu, Malayalam movies during this time. His emotional type of acting was well received by directors as well as fans.

Vijayakumar started acting in television serials in roles similar to his movie roles. He mostly acted as a person who is well respected in the society, which was true in his real life also. His wife, son, daughters all acted in movies and became famous. Vijayakumar’s super hit television serials include Thangam and Vamsam. His well-known movie performances are Agni Natchathiram, Naattaamai, Kizhakku Seemaiyile, Andhi Mandhaarai, Saamy etc.

Rajesh Pillai is a Mollywood filmmaker who made his debut in the field of cinema in 2005. His first film was ‘Hridayathil Sookshikkan’ which had actors like Kunchacko Boban and Bhavana playing the main characters. The film was based on the American film ‘Meet the Parents’. After a gap of six years, he again made his second film ‘Traffic’ which was written by Bobby and Sanjay, who are screenwriters duo in Malayalam cinema. The film ‘Traffic’ is credited to have led to a new wave in Malayalam cinema.  The screenwriters’ duo worked for more than two years to complete the scripting of ‘Traffic’ (2011), which was inspired by true incidents. The film was very well received in Kerala and Rajesh Pillai’s efforts were acknowledged. This was also the last film of actor Jose Prakash. Due to Traffic’s success in Mollywood, the film was remade in Kannada and Tamil. But Malayalam version was said to be better than other remakes. In 2014, ‘Traffic’ was adapted into Hindi by Suresh Nair and music was composed by Mithoon. It has stars like Manoj Bajpayee, Jimmy Shergill, Prosenjit Chatterjee, Parambrata Chatterjee, Divya Dutta and Amol Parashar in the lead roles. The film was not a big success in Hindi.  In August 2012, he shelved his announced project titled ‘Motorcycle Diaries’ and went ahead with another movie titled ‘Mili.' ‘

Listin Stephen is an Indian film distributor and producer. His work is predominant in the Tamil and Malayalam film industries. He has his own production company called Magic Frames which he founded. His debut as a producer was in the 2011 film Traffic, which made Malayalam cinema see a new age of filmmaking style. Stephen was born on 1 st June 1986 in Uzhavoor, Kottayam, Kerala. His second film as a producer after his debut was Chaapa Kurish which encountered controversies, but still gave a hit.

AD Sreekumar is an Indian production controller, popular amongst the regional audience for his work in movies like Abrahaminte Santhathikal (2018), Oru Kuprasidha Payyan (2018), Traffic (2011), IDI : Inspector Dawood Ibrahim (2016), etc. Mostly known for his dominant involvement in Kollywood movies, Telegu TV shows, and short films, Sreekumar is considered as one of the most reliable professionals in the industry when it comes to managing the film production. Over the years, Sreekumar has worked for the production units of many renowned film projects. He has been working in the Telegu film industry for more than ten years now. The first film credit to his name is Traffic (2011), directed by Rajesh Pillai.

This 38-year-old cinematographer turned director had a great philosophy behind his frames. Right from his childhood onwards, Shyju Khalid always had an affinity for art. V.P.Khalid, his father was once a theater artist -and he played short roles in many films. He has done his schooling in Santa Cruz High School at Kochi. He took admission at St. Albert's College for graduationbut left the college shortly. He then met Aashiq Abu, and through him Sameer and the rest of film enthusiasts, all of whom are creating a new wave in theMalayalam Cinema. Shyju with Sameer started their career with wedding photography.

Sinat Savier has created his vibrant presence in the field of still photography. Savier has been a part of few successful Malayalam movies. Sinat, who hails from Kodakara near Chalakudi had the interest to be with his uncle who runs a photo studio abroad.

Mejo Joseph is a composer and actor, born on 28th of January 1981 at Thrissur. His parents are named Joseph & Mary. He has done his schooling from Don Bosco High School, Irinjalakuda. He is a music director working in the Malayalam Film Industry. He got married to Merrin on 26 June 2011 & has a son named Abdeil. The famous and renowned Director Rosshan Andrrews is his brother in law. In 2006, he made his debut featuring his Malayalam film, ‘Notebook’ which was directed by his brother in law, Rosshan Andrews. The notebook turned out to be a major hit with its exceptional music and the movie's soundtrack, Hridayavum became the chart topper of the year.

Samson Kottoor is a music director and has given music to a lot of south Indian movies and TV serials like Traffic (Malayalam), Pallikoodam Pogamale (Tamil), Nee Yente Eankethavum, Israyelin, etc. and also has composed many Christian devotional albums. He has done about 80 Christian albums and 4000 stage performances both in India and abroad. He was born on 23rd February 1964 to late Mr. T. J Kottoor and Mrs. Rajammal Kottoor. Samson Kottoor is married to Rona Kottoor and has two children Ann and Steve. He had always been passionate about music and his parents encouraged and supported him too. At the age of 12, when his voice had begun to crack, he had lost faith in himself so he started losing confidence in himself. In one of his singing competitions, he had not performed well but he ended up getting a consolation prize which helped him regain his confidence.

Vipin Xavier is a playback singer in the Malayalam movie industry. He started his singing career with the album “Lollipop” (Original Motion picture soundtrack), released in 2008. After that, Vipin sang many songs as a playback singer in many Malayalam movies like “Ivar Vivahitharayal…?” “In Ghost House Inn,” “Seniors,” “Housefull,” “Hangover,” and many more. Vipin’s recently released song was ‘Toofan’ from the Tamil movie “K.G.F: Chapter 2,” released in 2022. The song was sung by many singers like Deepak Blue, Govind Prasad, Mohan Krishna, and a few more. The music was composed by Ravi Basrur. Vipin had sung the song ‘Sulthana’ in the same film along with Mohan Krishna, Anwar Sadath, M.T. Sruthikanth, and Santhosh Venky. The song had the music label of T- Series Malayalam.

SB Satheesan is a Malayalam singer. Satheesan spent his childhood in Chemboor, Venjaramoodu, Kerala. He opened his career as a tailor. He owns a tailoring shop named S.B. Stitchings at Chembur. He was introduced to the Malayalam film industry by producer Adoor Gopalakrishnan. 

Mahesh Narayanan is an Indian writer and film editor, popular amongst the regional audience for his work in movies like Take Off (2017), Traffic (2011), Vishwaroopam (2013), and Ennu Ninte Moideen (2015). Mostly known for his predominant involvement in Mollywood movies and Malayali TV shows, he has been working in the film industry for more than ten years now.

Sreejith Guruvayoor is an Indian film and celebrity Makeup Artist. He works in Mollywood. His Makeup Studio ‘Sreejith Guruvayoor Bridal Factory’ is in Guruvayur, Thrissur. He directed a cricket- based short film named ‘Innings’ in 2015. He has worked in many Malayalam movies like Traffic (2011), God for Sale (2013), Vegam (2014), Apothecary (2014), Varsham (2014), Pedithondan (2014), and many more.

Nivin Pauly is predominantly a Malayalam actor. Born on 11 October 1984, his debut film was Malarvaadi Art Club. The direction of this film was by Vineeth Sreenivasan and production by Dileep. Some of the other films of Nivin Pauly include Bangalore Days, Thattathin Marayathu, Premam, Oru Vadakkari Selfie etc..The films 1983 and Bangalore Days fetched him the Best Actor Award from Kerala State Film Award. Nivin holds a degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering. He is happily wedded to Rinna Joy since 2010, and they are blessed with a boy. Before taking up acting as his profession Nivin was working in Infosys for two years.

Nivin’s selection for the Malarvaadi Arts Club was not that easy. He was not one among the shortlisted actors for the audition, but when one person eventually left, Nivin was provided with a chance. Later he became an actor. From then on, Nivin worked in the movies Sevenes and Metro and some short roles in Spanish Masala and Traffic. He also worked in the music video Nenjodu Cherthu. This was a great hit in YouTube. It was the 2012 flick Thattathin Marayathu which was a turning point in Nivin’s career. It was a great hit and he was labeled the present youth sensation. Directors like Sathyan Anthikad, Aashiq Abu, Rajesh Pillai and Shyamaprasad directed Nivin. Neram was the debut film of Nivin in Tamil. Later he acted in some Malayalam films, including Bangalore Days.

The beard is a regular in some of Nivin’s films. Nivin has worked with his colleague Dileep in several Malayalam films. Nivin confesses that he was good at knowing dialogues of films by heart and telling them just like the original. Before taking up acting Nivin had no stage experience and he knew only to dance. Nivin focuses on giving his best to his films.

The Pauly Family Tree (Infographic Family Tree)

Jose Prakash was born on April 14, 1925 as K. Baby Joseph at Cochin, Kerala. He was highly appreciated for playing the character Mikhael in the teleserial on Doordarshan Mikhayelinte Santhathikal.  He is famous for his role as the villain who raised crocodiles and talked to them too. He had won the Bahadoor Award in 2006 and J.C. Daniel Award in 2011 for lifetime achievement. He began his career as an officer with British Indian Army. After retiring from the army eight years later, he formed the Kottayam Arts Group along with friends, in which he was a lead singer. Thikkurissy Sukumaran saw and heard him sing, and introduced him to the Malayalam film industry as a singer in 1953. He has sung in about 60 films without any musical background as such. Thikurissy named him Jose Prakash. Slowly he started acting along with singing. In the 60’s he concentrated more on acting. His first major role was in the movie Bhaktakuchela in 1961. Then gradually he acted in more of villain roles. He was always a modern villain who spoke English.  In the 90’s he was seen in more of character roles. His famous movies are C.I.D.Nazir, John Jaffer Janardhanan, Swanthamevide Bandhamevide, Joseph Chacko in Lisa, K.G.Menon in Manushya Mrugam, Mamangam; He has acted in more than 350 films from 1960- 2012. His last serial was Akashadoothu in Surya TV in 2012. He died on multiple issues in 2012 at the age of 87.

Krishna Kumar also popularly known as KK Kichu is an actor who works in Malayalam and Tamil movies and serials. Krishna Kumar is mainly known for playing supporting roles in Malayalam and Tamil films as well as in few selected TV serials. Krishna Kumar was born in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India to Gopala Krishnan Nair. Krishna Kumar started his career as a news reader in the Kerala TV and later shifted his career to acting which has always been his hidden passion. He made his debut of his acting career in the year 1994 with the Malayalam film Kashmeeram. Then he went on to act in many Malayalam movies and TV serials. After some time, when the offers from Malayalam movies and serials started drying down, Krishna Kumar tried his luck in the Tamil movie Industry where he managed to get some good role as supporting actor in Tamil movies like Billa II, Deivathirumagal, mugamoodi, etc. He side by side continued to act in Malayalam movies. Krishna Kumar married Sindhu on December 12, 1994 and had 4 daughters, Ahaana, Ishaani, Diya and Hansika. His elder daughter is all set to venture in the Malayalam movies with Rajeev Ravi’s forthcoming movie with another newbie Farhan Fazil, who is also a star kid.
 

Bio coming soon...