- Film : Madras Cafe
- Producer : John Abraham and Viacom 18 Motion Pictures
- Director : Shoojit Sircar
- Star Cast : John Abraham, Nargis Fakhri, Rashi Khanna...
- Music Director : Shantanu Moitra
- Rating :
3.5
Gritty, sombre, and explosive political
thrillers aren't really among Bollywood's strengths. So when a
hard-hitting, fast-paced and riveting espionage thriller like “Madras Cafe”
hits the screens, it certainly singles out as an unqualified triumph.
Blending facts with fiction with aplomb, Shoojit Sircar's largely
understated “Madras Cafe” smacks down all the
run-of-the-mill militaristic machismo and genuinely captures the
unexplored genre of political drama in Hindi cinema. Certainly one of
the finest thrillers to be ever made!
What a brave feat for the makers —
Shoojit Sircar and John Abraham — to explore an unchartered cinematic
territory with this film that is devoid of any over-the-top Bollywood
cliches and commercialism, unlike their previous outing together “Vicky
Donor”. The movie, apparently blows the lid off the actual Lankan ethnic
strife, which many of us were too young to know or react to, then. The
political drama underscores India's ambiguous role in the war, inching
sensitively without taking sides, and bringing to light the conspiracies
and compulsions that plagued it. It's edgy and disturbing at the same
time — a rare combo for Bollywood potboilers. The movie certainly
deserves laurels for rhonesty of intent and holding its own. To quote a
critic, “Madras Cafe deserves an audience.”
Other Ratings
Average Movie Rating
3.5
3.5Sify
4 Cinema is a powerful...
This is the best political thriller that Bollywood has so far given us
-
Deccan
Not Yet Rated -
The Times of India
-
BharatStudent
Not Yet Rated -
Rediff
Story :
The brave plot orbs around a conspiracy
that connects the assassination of a pacifist ex-Prime Minister to the
dirtywork of giant corporations and foreign agencies, who are out to
undercut the subcontinent.
Major Vikram Singh (John Abraham), an Indian Intelligence agent is
sent on a undercover mission to Sri Lanka. As he kick-starts his
operation of disrupting a rebel group, he makes an alarming discovery: a
conspiracy to assassinate the former Indian Prime Minister.Once in the territory, he joins hands with colleague Bala (Prakash Belawadi) to get Anna Bhaskaran (Rathnam), head of the rebel LTF group and make him come to a peaceful resolution. Vikram knows Anna will be a huge challenge - what surprises him is how many others he must face.
The first half of the movie is neatly layered into complex trails - leaks, foreign interests, domestic rivals – the stumps Vikram. As RAW honcho Robin Dutt (Siddharth Basu) exerts pressure, Vikram moves fast through sultry, dangerous airs. His foreign journalist friend Jaya (Fakhri, apparently playing real-life journalist Anita Pratap, who first interviewed LTTE chief Prabhakaran) knows this conflict's heart even better than Vikram, who assist him in making some spine-chilling discoveries.
What follows next is Vikram’s brush with gun-toting ultraists who deem themselves as revolutionaries and hatching a dangerous conspiracy to kill an important Indian leader with a human bomb.
Analysis :
Somnath Dey and Shubendu Bhattacharya riveting screenplay laced with Juhi Chaturvedi’s gripping dialogues builds-up and lays out a complex network of inquiry, motives and ideology.
The political drama moves at a breakneck pace post interval. Chandrashekhar Prajapat's crisp editing unravel the episodes with fascinating ease. The background score by Shantanu Moitra enhances the sublimity of the movie.
The best thing about the film is that even when characters suffers personal blows, Madras Café doesn’t halt for melodrama. The no-song-and-dnace movie is gorgeously shot (Kamaljeet Negi).
Performance :
John Abraham comes up trumps with
“Madras Cafe”. Cast against type, the actor pitches all his strength in
giving life and honesty to his character of an undercover espionage who
loses more than he gains in the line of duty.
Debutante Rashi Khanna makes an impact in her short but significant role as the army man’s betterhalf. Although, she doesn’t get a chance to flex her potential as John Abraham’s young wife unlike Nargis here.
The rest of the characters – secret agents, commandos, extremists, and bureaucrats – play identifiable figures and complete the canvas.
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