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Originally posted by: SudhaSangeet
Have seen the morning show...It was true and honest to the genre proposed...Such an intense, gripping thriller with solid story behind it. You just cant miss any frame of movie...
If you like such movie...you will love it 😊I will write my detail review in some minutes...
Sounds interesting
Plus I have already got the tickets so I will watch it regardless 😊
Director: Shoojit Sircar
Cast: John Abraham, Nargis Fakhri, Rashi Khanna and Siddharth Basu
It was one of the darkest hours of our country€™s political history. A national leader, Rajiv Gandhi was blown to bits by an LTTE militant. It shocked the world. That€™s the history Shoojit Sircar€™s Madras Cafe recreates. It tells an important tale, one that deserves an audience far larger than the 100-crore brigade. But along the way it struggles, sporadically, with underwhelming performances and choppy scenes. Contrary to that is another technical side of Madras Cafe that impresses. Cinematography, writing and production design are all top notch. But in hind sight, one feels the movie could€™ve been much better.
John Abraham plays an R&AW agent on a mission in civil war torn Sri Lanka. In classic film espionage style, he makes more enemies than friends. What with LTF (the cinematic equivalent of the real-life rebel army LTTE €" Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) leaders being pissed off by his political presence. He makes friends too. Nargis Fakhri, as an International reporter covering the Lankan civil war, becomes one of his close aides. And it€™s his struggle with war that forms the crux of the story. This super spy narrative track of course is a parallel to the real story of then Indian PM Rajiv Gandhi€™s (who for diplomatic reasons isn€™t named in the film) involvement in another nation€™s domestic affairs. The political game involving Indian politicians, bureaucrats, agents and Lankan rebels, army etc is the punch of this film. It€™s a great story. One that highlights the true nature of war. Sircar and his writers Somnath Dey and Shubendu Bhattacharya excel at capturing great drama and sublime emotions. But the joy of a complex story unfolding with gusto is soon hurdled by inconsistencies.
Full marks to John Abraham for the effort. But he€™s a better producer than he is a performer. Even though he looks his part there are times when his performance lacks that fine touch of much-required nuance. Sircar takes the smart liberty of giving Fakhri English dialogue. It works because she€™s an Indian girl working in London. But then the viewer has to compromise with too many Hindi subtitles on English dialogue.
Thank god somebody has the conviction to make a spy thriller without sore-thumb-like item numbers and songs. But then Sircar also chooses to add a thousand quick cuts to his scenes. While we€™ve seen it work wonders in Hollywood spy films, here it doesn€™t quite complement the storytelling. What also doesn€™t work is a lot of the dialogue. There are too many lines that sneak in English words in the middle of Hindi sentences. It sounds conversational but it€™s also jerky.
At its core, Madras Cafe is a well intentioned film. But its packaging isn€™t all that authentic. The beginning scenes with a gruff John engaging in confessional thoughts with a Father in a Church are not so inspiring. But as they say, it€™s the effort that counts. And Madras Cafe has plenty of honesty in that department. It has decent action, gun fights and political drama. It entertains to a fair degree as well. The climax conjures up good steam too. But it never quite does enough to match up to its promise.
August 23, 2013
Cast: John Abraham, Nargis Fakhri, Ajay Ratnam, Siddhartha Basu, Prakash Belawadi, Raashi Khanna, Piyush Pandey
Director: Shoojit Sircar
Unlike in the West, its hard to make films on real-life historical events in India. Political pressures and sensitive groups invariably throw a spanner in the works. Which is why its commendable what director Shoojit Sircar has undertaken withMadras Caf. Set in the late 80s and early 90s during the civil war in Sri Lanka, the film meshes fact and fiction competently to present a dramatized account of the real-life conspiracy behind the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi.
Theres a lot going on in this dense script (by Somnath Dey and Shubhendu Bhattacharya) which spends the first half hour or so of the film laying out the geopolitical history of the region and the times. Through voiceovers and occasionally confusing scenes, were provided a background to the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka, led by rebel group LTTE, wh**e referred to as LTF in this film. Were also told of the IPKF (or the Indian Peace Keeping Force) that was deployed to cool off the tension in Sri Lanka, but who got in the way of the LTTE. And were introduced to Anna (Ajay Ratnam), head of the LTF, modeled so closely after LTTE chief Prabhakaran who famously masterminded that dastardly killing.
But the films plot kicks in when military intelligence officer Vikram Singh (John Abraham) is dispatched to Jaffna on a covert mission to weaken Annas stranglehold on the region. With the help of a British Asian journalist (Nargis Fakhri), Vikram uncovers a daring conspiracy involving foreign players and key figures in the Indian bureaucracy.
Despite the crisp pacing, the films first half will likely be a slog for anyone unfamiliar with the subcontinents recent political history. It doesnt help that the writers stuff too much information into these portions, often digressing from the central assassination conspiracy, which remains the films key strength.
Madras Caf feels more surefooted in its second half when it slips into race-against-time thriller mode. The unfolding of the assassination plot, the decoding of crucial intel, and the chilling explosion itself is remarkably shot and edited, and leaves you shaken despite the inevitability of that climax. What feels clunky, however, is the framing device Sircar employs to tell his story. A grizzly Vikram narrates the events in flashback, thereby diluting the emotional impact of the terrifying assassination scene. Portions featuring Vikram and his wife slacken the pace, particularly one clumsily written love scene. But these are minor complaints in an otherwise slick film that gets so many things just right.
Sircar avoids over-familiar faces in the film, and makes interesting casting choices across the board, particularly Siddhartha Basu in the part of R&AW chief Robin Dutt. John Abraham himself nicely slips into the skin of a committed officer tasked with protecting the nation, and hes particularly at ease in scenes where hes out there in the trenches facing the enemy, gun in hand. Even Nargis Fakhri is pleasantly competent as the strictly English-speaking reporter.
Solidly directed by Sircar, who steers clear of typical Bollywood machismo and avoids oversimplifying characters or their motives, the film " at a little over two hours " is a compelling watch. Im going with three-and-a-half out of five for Madras Caf. Until the climate is more conducive for filmmakers to boldly make real-life stories without fear of controversy or censorship, this may be the best way to approach important stories that must be told.
https://www.indiaforums.com/article/metro-in-dino-review-its-a-musical-love-letter-to-the-lost-the-lonely-and-the-longing_224199
https://www.indiaforums.com/article/the-hunt-rajiv-gandhi-assassination-case-review-focused-fearless-retelling-of-the-famous-political-k_224259
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