Movie Review: Pay 'Madras Cafe' a Visit

Cast: John Abraham, Nargis Fakhri, Rashi Khanna, Siddharth Basu, Ajay Rathnam

Direction: Shoojit Sircar

Duration: 2 hours 10 minutes

Censor Rating: U/A

Rating : * * * 1/2

Well this is not for the first time that some politico-thriller drama pertaining to counter-terrorism has made it to the silver screen. Hitherto we the Indian masses have only witnessed the kind of cine-chronicles, where the mention of ISI had been a must.

But very much in compliance to his legacy of "juggling with unconventional themes in an unconventional manner" ace director Shoojit Sircar, after movies like "Yahaan" and "Vicky Donor" has tossed out a novel cine theme pertaining to political unrest prevailing in the South Asia of 80s and 90s, the era which witnessed the assassination of one of the leading leaders of South Asia and Sri Lankan civil-war, initiated by the rebels demanding for the rights of Sri Lankan Tamils.

May be some the cine Conceptualizers in the past may have tried to explore the theme, but not in the manner Shoojit has done in "Madras Cafe". The movie featuring John Abraham, Nargis Fakhri, Rashi Khanna, Siddharth Basu, Ajay Rathnam showcases the Sri Lankan unrest and it's association with Indian political system. "Madras Cafe" opened with an occupancy of 35% percent at the multiplexes.

As soon as it begins, the narrative of "Madras Cafe" showcase the civil-war like situation prevailing in Sri Lanka, and the concerns of Indian Politico-bureaucratic system over the issue.

With frames rolling ahead, with an intention abrogating the rebel group of Sri Lanka and its leader Anna Bhaskaran (Ajay Ratnam) an Indian intelligence officer Vikram Singh (John Abraham) is deployed to take on a covert operation to abrogate, Anna and his man and create a scenario favorable for provincial election, which occupied the topmost slot in the priority list of Indian government and the Prime minister leading it.

While on his way to arena of unrest, Vikram meets a London based war correspondent Jaya (Nargis Fakhri). Although till landing in Jaffna, Vikram had a sole agenda of vandalizing the rebellious threats, but what follows next is a rendezvous with an unpleasant intention of the rebels or rather self proclaimed revolutionaries, of killing the former Indian Prime Minister. So, what happens next to find out watch this marvelous creation of Shoojit.

Every time when Shoojit has geared up for painting something on celluloid, most of the times he has picked up the subject matters which had been unconventional in nature. Be it, "Yahaan, Vicky Donor", or "Madras Cafe" every time Shoojit has handpicked the plots which without complicating the spirit of the tale, ends up leaving a grand impact on the audience.

If we talk about "Madras Cafe" then despite being an amalgam of facts and fiction the story-line of "Madras Cafe" brings to life the Sri Lankan civil-war of 90s, which many of us would have only heard off, in an absolute unbiased manner. And on top of it the plot of "Madras Cafe" never tries to be preachy and just remains well within the confines of its intentions i.e. of entertaining those who have entered the cine arena.

There is no denying the fact that whenever it's about painting the bygone era on celluloid, it had not been an easy task for any of the cine conceptualizer, but for hard task masters like Shoojit Sircar, this whole affair seems to be as easy as cake walk.

Even while handling "Madras Cafe", Shoojit seems to be at his best, and despite Madras Cafe's subject matter being too sensitive to handle, he along with his screenplay experts, Somnath Dey and Shubhendu Bhattachary, has tailored screenplay of "Madras Cafe" with so much conviction that it literally kept every vent well-plugged, from where melodrama could have poked in.

And besides that the best part about Madras Cafe's screenplay is that, be it portraying the Sri Lankan civil war, depicting India's stance on the whole affair or portraying Indian politico-bureaucratic system of that era, every thing is presented in an absolute unbiased manner which thoroughly adds on to the credibility of the onscreen offerings.

Being exposed to some of the larger than life counter-terrorism cine delights a sect of cine enthusiasts may have started fostering a notion that any politico-thriller, especially the ones dealing with something like counter-terrorism, should be full of numerous "on the edge of the seat moments" but, even on that front Shoojit has tried to keep everything well-proportionate in order to maintain the basic spirit of the movie alive.

"Madras Cafe" never gets arty or gets out of its levee. No over the top action, no unwanted patriotism-obsession it only tries to offer the entire tale in a realistic manner. First half of Madras Cafe establishes a firm base for the the upcoming cine proceedings and by the time loo break arrives you are possessed by the spell of the onscreen offerings. Besides, screenplay is well supplemented by the background score of Shantanu Moitra and sharp edged editing of Chandrashekhar Prajapati.

While being in director's chair, Shoojit has once again proved that he is the man of conviction and knows the art of keeping everything well within the purview of his directional dexterity. Be it about creating the milieu of civil-war ridden Sri Lanka, utilizing the cine resources or extracting the best out of his protagonists, Shoojit certainly masters every art. Being Madras Cafe's a political thriller pertaining to something which has happened in the past Shoojit could have easily added some melodramatic condiments in it in order to make it more of a commercial movie, but the adroit cine-intellectual never did it and presented it in as realistic manner it could have been. So kudos for this gem of Bollywood.

In the music department, "Madras Cafe" has nothing to offer except "Sun Raha Hai" song, but this dearth of carol dose nowhere hampers the over all appeal of the movie, which by the time of its culmination, succeeds in sending across the message it intends to.

Well as far as performances are concerned then as Major Vikram Singh in "Madras Cafe", John has once again proved that he is director's actor, and can conveniently slip under the skin of his character. So far some sects of cine junkies use to believe that, John is only good for the characters which involve a good amount of muscle flexing and is wooden faced when it comes to expressions, but by his performance in the movie this handsome hunk of Bollywood has proved that he has got ample amount of acting potency to do justice to any and every kind of cine character offered to him.

After "Rockstar" this had been the second cine outing for Nargis Fakhri, who played the character of a war journalist (the role apparently inspired from real life journo Anita Pratap), but unlike her previous cine performance this time, Nargis has looked more confident and appealing.

As far as performance of supporting cast of "Madras Cafe" comprising Rashi Khanna, Siddharth Basu, Ajay Rathnam et al is concerned, then each one of them looked quite apprised with the their respective characters and conveniently managed to perform their respective roles.

Probably no one can deny the fact that, only those movies are not the great ones which jolt the BO and end up reaping a grand moolah, because the real spirit of movie making lies in the fact that whatever you offer it should touch the heart of the masses.

So in the case of "Madras Cafe" which is thoroughly unconventional and up-till an extent lacks those obtruded garnishing, there are ample possibilities that despite being a magnum opus of a kind it may not succeed in setting up the grand earning benchmarks and end up being an above average BO grosser.

The final word, "Madras Cafe" is certainly chef-d'oeuvre which has tried to explore a novel subject-matter and at the same time well exhibits the honest efforts of its makers. And if we endorse the words of makers of "Madras Cafe" then probably it will be liked by a particular sect of audience, but at the same time there are ample chances that even others will love to have a look at this insightful experience. So pay 'Madras Cafe' a visit.