Taxi Chronicles

Overview

On a cold Halloween night in Edmonton, Abel, a middle-aged immigrant rideshare driver from Kerala, begins what seems like another ordinary shift. As the city empties and the rain-soaked streets grow quieter, a series of strangers enter his car—a wealthy businessman, a social media influencer, a lonely groom, a racist drunk, a corrupt philanthropist, a conflicted priest, and others—each carrying their own secrets, regrets, and moral contradictions.

From the silence of the driver’s seat, Abel listens as his passengers reveal fragments of ambition, envy, anger, desire, loneliness, and guilt. What begins as a collection of disconnected encounters gradually transforms into a deeper meditation on the hidden struggles people carry behind carefully constructed identities.

As the night unfolds, Abel’s calm presence begins to reveal its own quiet sorrow. Beneath every ride lies a man haunted by a personal tragedy, searching for redemption in the simple act of helping strangers find their way home.
Director Biography - Vishnu Rajan

Vishnu Rajan is an Indian-Canadian filmmaker, writer, and producer originally from Kerala, India, and currently based in Canada. His work explores human relationships, morality, identity, and the emotional complexities of immigrant life, often blending realism with philosophical storytelling.

He began his filmmaking journey with the short film Vali – The Fart (2020), which he wrote and directed, followed by Red Wine (2021). As a producer, he has been associated with acclaimed Malayalam films including The Great Indian Kitchen, Freedom Fight, Purusha Pretham, and Sree Dhanya Catering Service. His work on The Great Indian Kitchen contributed to its recognition, including a Kerala State Award.Currently based in Canada, Vishnu continues to develop stories that bridge cultures and challenge audiences through intimate, character-driven cinema. His latest film, Taxi, marks a deeply personal exploration of guilt, redemption, and the hidden moral struggles of modern life.
Director Statement

I have always been fascinated by the lives we briefly encounter but never truly know. As immigrants, as travelers, and as strangers in modern cities, we often pass through each other’s lives in silence, carrying private wounds, guilt, desires, and contradictions that remain unseen. Taxi Chronicles was born from that curiosity.

Set over a single Halloween night in Edmonton, the film uses the confined space of a car as both a physical setting and a moral landscape. Each passenger Abel encounters represents a different reflection of human weakness—pride, greed, envy, wrath, lust, gluttony, and spiritual emptiness. Beneath their conversations about money,identity, loneliness, technology, love, and faith lies a deeper question: What does it mean to live with the consequences of our choices?

At the center of the film is Abel, an immigrant driver from Kerala who listens more than he speaks. Through the stories of strangers, he quietly confronts his own grief and guilt. For me, Abel is not simply a driver—he is a witness, a confessor, and a man searching for redemption in the ordinary act of helping others get home safely.

I chose to tell this story almost entirely from the dashcam perspective because I wanted the audience to feel like silent passengers themselves—observing, judging, empathizing, and perhaps recognizing parts of themselves in these encounters. The camera never escapes the car, because Abel himself cannot escape his past.

As a filmmaker living between cultures, I am deeply drawn to stories about displacement, morality, and the hidden emotional lives of ordinary people. Taxi Chronicles is both an intimate character study and a meditation on guilt, grace, and the possibility of redemption in a fractured modern world.

— Vishnu Rajan

Credits

Director: Vishnu Rajan
Writer: Vishnu Rajan, Sudheesh Scaria
Producer: Vishnu Rajan, Sudheesh Scaria
Key Cast: "Abel"

Specifications

Project Type: Experimental, Feature
Runtime:1 hour 12 minutes
Completion Date: November 30, 2025
Production Budget: 10,000 USD
Country of Origin: Canada
Country of Filming: Canada
Language: English
Shooting Format: Digital
Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Film Color: Color
First-time Filmmaker: Yes
Student Project: No