Madras Cafe Reviews & Box-office Collections - Page 16

New Delhi: The proud proclamations of the moviemen (and women) of their upcoming film being different has become so stale a joke that the same filmwallahs, notwithstanding their undying love for the banal, have drastically reduced their usage of the word 'hatke'. Interestingly, more 'hatke' movies are being made now when (the faux) 'hatke' is no longer the industry's catchphrase.

In the recent past, no other film seems to have broken out of the Bollywood mould as much as the Shoojit Sircar directed, John Abraham starring Madras Cafe. Sircar's much applauded 2012 film Vicky Donor even while being different moved about within the peripheries drawn by thousands of films produced in the City of Dreams (the film though had Delhi as the backdrop) before his.

(The sentences below are filled with spoiler mines. Tread at your own risk)

In spite of its shortcomings, Madras Cafe is a nonconformist in the Bollywood scheme of things and here are a few reasons why (if you have a reason to add or subtract, agree or disagree, do them in the comments):

Failure as an ending: This isn't the usual all-that-ends-well and also not the relatively fewer all-that-doesn't-end-well-but-celebrates-death kind of film. There is no celebration of death, there is a failure. And not many films have told stories of failures, at least not here.

Parallel between the reel and the real: Hindi cinema has traditionally shied away from contemporary history, especially that of the political kind. Politics here is usually handled in the wishy-washy Prakash Jha way. Similarities are mere semblances. It is not as easy in India to put real names on film as it is there in the US but in Madras Cafe we clearly know who's who.

Familiar yet unfamiliar territory: Whenever Bollywood had an overseas tale to tell, it either took a flight to Europe or America and once in a while walked over from the border at Wagah. This crossing of the Palk Strait is therefore momentous. It is about neighbour we know well about but didn't seem to care much. Hope this is only the beginning of a lot of seas to cross. Fiji can make for a nice film.

Attempt at neutrality: In stories of crises there are always more sides than many and none are right. Neutrality is only an apparition. Yet, Madras Cafe tries to subtly balance the three important sides in the story. India, Sri Lanka and the LTF (the name by which the LTTE is referred to in the movie). It being a story told in flashback from the point of view of an ex-RAW officer, the Aviators do appear to have a tint of the Tricolour, but then a totally neutral story (if there is any) is a relatively boring tale to tell.

No heroine: There are two women linked to the leading man, but none of them is a heroine in the Bollywood sense of the term. Nargis Fakhri appears as a contrast to the devastation around, but she is more of a character actor and so is Rashi Khanna, who plays John Abraham's wife.

Less song and no dance: While one kind of lip-synching is getting out of fashion, another kind is gaining more and more currency (if only our currency could gain some). Madras Cafe doesn't have characters synching their lips to the voices of a playback singer but are more comfortable doing that each other's lips in one abrupt and possibly unnecessary scene. No songs is not a novelty, BR Chopra did that with Kanoon back in 1960. Madras Cafe does have songs listed on its soundtrack but not presented on the screen in the way we are used to. If there is any dance in the film, it is only the dance of death.

No romance: Vikram Singh (played by John Abraham) loves his wife (he is also shown making love to her) and is devastated by her death. This romance, is so not over the top and therefore is equivalent to no romance as defined by 99 per cent of Bollywood films (the figure might appear to be an exaggeration, but chances are if you sat down with the DVDs of all the films and a calculator, it would come to approximately about this figure). We have been so trained watching this romance thing, that we expect the chemistry to get out of hand (and go between the sheets) between the hunk of a Major and a stunner of a war correspondent. But, that, doesn't happen. Even our most unromantic of films have had more romance than this. A blow to Bollywood romance, I say.

Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/madras-cafe-the-fact-and-fiction/1/300945.html

taran adarsh @taran_adarsh

#MadrasCafe *actuals* Fri 5.23 cr, Sat 7.18 cr, Sun 8.60 cr, Mon 3.03 cr. Total: 24.04 cr. Rock-steady!

Originally posted by: SudhaSangeet

taran adarsh @taran_adarsh

#MadrasCafe *actuals* Fri 5.23 cr, Sat 7.18 cr, Sun 8.60 cr, Mon 3.03 cr. Total: 24.04 cr. Rock-steady!

This is great 😃

With satyagrah looking like a flop

It can put up great numbers

Had nargis debuted in this, she would ve been nominated at least for award

Originally posted by: BeShArAm

This is great 😃

With satyagrah looking like a flop

It can put up great numbers

Yes it is.😃

Satyagraha is going to be a WIDE release...listings in paper is already out. I hope it still gets good number of screens later, already its on minimal side of 1200.
The WOM is amazing so nothing to worry about the collections.

And many predicted Madras Cafe will be flop even I was skeptical; so we cant say anything until people see the film.

reasons I loved this movie:

Originally posted by: petticoat

reasons I loved this movie:

1. Shoojit Sircar- Class act- i didnt know JA and NF could act. JA always diistracted me with those weird lips. This movie didnt have that as a distraction somehow.

2. BGM- No inappropriate lalalalalaaas.. adds to the tempo

3. The locations- seem appropriate.. No imaginary locations no dream sequence

4. No annoying songs..

5. JA is good- either he is subtle or his 1.5 expressions totally suit the movie. Glad he wasnt trying to show his body

hatke hain..magar bahuth accha hain.. ATBB jayee bhad mein.. accha movie hain yaar..

Watch this movie if you havent

Nice 😃

No character was overdone, very subtle, no heroism...that was key which many have liked.

Your second point 🤣

Even the supporting characters especially Bala [ I want him to win some awards, so amazing performance] and RD were very good.

Madras Cafe brings back memories

By Tavleen Singh on August 25, 2013

Rajiv Gandhis birth anniversary brought back a flood of memories for me this year. And, not because of the full page advertisements you would have seen in your newspapers from sycophantic Ministers who used public money to commemorate the day. We are a docile people, so nobody questions how the Government departments that claim to have no money for important things can afford advertisements that cost crores of Rupees. Nobody questions either how taxpayers money can be so casually spent on welfare programmes that bear the name of one or other member of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty. There appears to be a new welfare programme every other minute these days, so on this anniversary, I discovered, through one of those expensive advertisements, the Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY) that promises urban poor subsidised credit for housing through the Rajiv Rin Yojana.

What brought back memories of Rajiv Gandhi for me last week, was a new film called Madras Caf to whose premiere in Delhi I was invited by my old friend, Rajat Sharma. It rained so hard that day that the roads of the city were clogged with bumper-to-bumper traffic jams in one of which I was caught for 45 minutes by a strange irony in the stretch of heavily guarded tarmac that goes past the Prime Ministers residence. In the days when Rajiv Gandhi lived there, I found myself reminiscing, you could drive through Race Course Road. Today, it has been turned into a barricaded enclave that is impassable for those who do not have an appointment with the Prime Minister. I also found myself recalling those long ago days when Rajiv Gandhi would drive himself to Delhi dinner parties in his white Ambassador car with his wife beside him. This was before he became the Prime Minister and before the assassination of Indira Gandhi created stringent new security rules.

By the time I got to the Directors Cut cinema in Vasant Kunj, I was more than an hour late but so was the star of the movie, John Abraham, so the film had not yet begun. There was time for chit-chat with the Delhi glitterati that Rajat had invited for the show. In the dim light of the cinema, I spotted Shashi Tharoor and his lovely wife, Sunanda, Naresh Trehan and his journalist wife, Madhu and the industrialist, Sunil Mittal. We could have been at one of those parties that always find their way on to Page 3. But, our conversations about media and politics came to a quick end when Rajat appeared with the impossibly handsome John Abraham by his side, and the star apologised for being late. He too had been stuck in a traffic jam. He said he hoped that we would enjoy the film and warned us not to expect any item songs.

After pro-Tamil groups, now students oppose release of Madras Cafe

From the very first few moments of the film it became clear that it was about the events that led to the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. Political thrillers are not a genre that Bollywood likes much so no more than a handful of political films have emerged from the largest film industry in the world. This film is a reminder of the vacuum that waits to be filled. It tells quite competently the story of the Tamil struggle for a separate homeland in Sri Lanka and there are some unnervingly realistic images of the jungles in which the Tamil Tigers once had their underground headquarters. The man who plays Vellupillai Pirabhakarans character plays the role so well that I found myself forgetting that this was only a movie.

What saddened me was that the film was that in fictionalising important historical events it failed to tell a story that would have been more compelling had it been historically accurate. It hints at how Rajiv Gandhi was betrayed by Indian officials who should have been more aware of the dangers his life was in on account of the Sri Lanka policy they made him follow. A little more research would have revealed just how serious the betrayal was and of how these officials interfered in Sri Lankas Tamil problems by patronising groups like the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam). I remembered the days when I personally met Prabhakaran and other Tamil terrorists in their suites in Delhis Ashoka Hotel when Rajiv was the Prime Minister.

Sri Lanka asks EU to help stop LTTE funding

Rajiv was a novice in the world of politics and was more than a little lost when it came to foreign policy so, he relied on the advice he was given by trusted officials. It was on their advice that he swung from being a supporter of the Tamil terrorism to sending an Army to destroy the LTTE. The soldiers, he sent, were forced to fight with their hands tied behind their backs because they were meant to be a Peace Keeping Force so more than 1500 brave Indians lost their lives in a war that was confused, reckless and unwinnable. That was the real reason why Rajiv Gandhi ended up paying with his own life. This is not the story that Madras Caf tells. It chooses instead to blame shadowy Western countries for trying to take over Sri Lanka for their own military and commercial interests and with the specific objective of weakening India.

The truth is that India began its interference in Sri Lankas affairs from the time of Indira Gandhi. This happened because she disapproved of J Jayewardenes efforts to make economic policies that would have made Sri Lanka into a South Asian Singapore. It was as part of these efforts that Jayewardene invited Western investment long before India got the same idea. Long before the Cold War ended, long before India realised that the Soviet Union would lose not just this war but the war of economic ideas as well.

India interfered in Sir Lankas domestic affairs in much the same way that Pakistans jihadi groups are being used to interfere in Indias domestic affairs today. And, it was because of this cynical meddling that Rajiv Gandhi ended up losing his life. It is a sadder and more cynical story than Madras Caf tells but, perhaps, it is not yet time for Bollywood to tell the real stories of betrayal and ugliness that lie buried in the secret chambers of Delhis sandstone edifices. To end on a happier note, may I say that John Abraham is outstanding in the film and much better looking in real life than he is on screen.

Shomini Sen, IBNLive.com | Updated Aug 27, 2013 at 11:52am IST

New Delhi: He has never been considered as a good actor but in a new role John Abraham is suddenly getting recognition and respect that was long due.

As the producer of the recently released 'Madras Cafe', John has been able to give a befitting reply to his critics and subtly let the world know that in spite of his non-filmy background, he knows his business well.

In a decade long career, John has mainly been treated as the brawny hottie who looks good but can't really act. The actor, who started his career in glamour world with a brief stint in modelling, made an impressive debut in Bollywood with a very bold film by the Bhatts called 'Jism' in 2003. The film raised a few eyebrows for its in-your-face boldness and the way sexuality was celebrated in the film paved the way for many such similar themes. While the film managed to get ample amount of work for its two leading actors, John and Bipasha Basu, the subsequent films that John signed somehow failed to cement the actors position in the big league. The turning point in John's career came with 'Dhoom' in 2004 where the actor was cast as an antagonist. Perhaps that set the tone for the actor's career in future. The actor possibly couldn't have imagined that his villain act in the film would get more accolade than the main hero. While John gained popularity among the masses with each of his films, critics were still not convinced about the actor and termed him as an eye-candy, much like his character in 'Dostana' where all the witty one liners were cleverly given to Abhishek Bachcahn and the skin show was restricted simply for John and Priyanka Chopra.

In the world of cinema, when actors launch their production houses, it is either to salvage their failing career or to make films in which they get the meatier role. But interestingly, John's maiden production venture 'Vicky Donor' did not feature him at all except in a promotional video. Says Shoojit Sircar , the director of the film 'I, in fact, had approached John at that time with the script of 'Madras Cafe' but then we both got busy with other projects and the film did not materialize. Around the same time, Juhi Chaturvedi came with the story of 'Vicky Donor' and John showed eagerness to produce the film and rest, as they say, is history." Interestingly, the actor from the very beginning wanted to just produce 'Vicky Donor' and not be a part of it. "He knew Ayushmann (Khurrana) was on board for the film. And he understood that the role wasn't meant for him," adds Sircar.

John apparently was "blown away" when he saw the first rushes of 'Vicky Donor' a story about a sperm donor. The actor willingly promoted the film and even tactfully handled tricky questions by the media and spoke about the issue of sperm donation- a topic which till then was never discussed that openly in Indian society.

Sircar, who has now worked with John in two consecutive films, gives the actor full credit for being the risk taker. "Its credible on his part to be associated to two non-Bollywood films. You know how Bollywood stereotypes actors, so for me his willingness to be part of the films that I make came as a pleasant surprise. Both 'Madras Cafe' and 'Vicky Donor' were unconventional films and dealt with serious and sensitive issues but John was willing to take the risk in producing such films," says Sircar.

While, as an actor, John has mainly stuck to commercial Bollywood films, the producer in him has tread the unknown path and emerged successful as a winner. Even Karan Johar, who is known for churning out typical Bollywood romances, has lauded John's instincts as a producer. While calling 'Madras Cafe' 'intelligent', Johar tweeted, " John Abraham emerging as the new age producer of our times...his brand value takes a giant leap...#MadrasCafe(sic)".

Not only has the actor-producer along with Sircar paved a way for new wave cinema in Bollywood, but he has probably set an example for his peers in the industry and once again reiterated the fact that content has to be given utmost importance in a film to make it work.

As an actor, John continues to stick to commercial films- his next film will be a sequel of 'Welcome' called 'Welcome Back'-while it seems he will satiate his creative thirst by taking more and more risks as a producer and surprise the audience with new genres of films time and again.

Take a bow John Abraham, for you have finally arrived.

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