Movies on sensitive issues have been made time & again in India, thereby managing to rake up controversy & attract viewers’ interest before release. Majority of these ‘kinda’ films borrow too much cinema liberty, adding meat & masala, and end up missing key points of significance somewhere down the line.
Madras Cafe, based on the Indo Sri Lankan tension in the early 90s, is one of those rare Indian films which thrives solely on the basis of its water tight script and simplicity of narration.
Major Vikram Singh (John Abraham) an Indian army special officer is assigned a critical, yet major responsibility, by Research & Analysis Wing (RAW).
The mission is to closely monitor anti national activities in Jaffna, identify key people involved & once and for all, put an end to the tyranny.
No sooner than beginning to understand the nitty-gritty of situation, Major Vikram finds himself becoming an integral part of proceedings!
His dangerous pursuit to un-entangle himself , through twists & turns, putting his best efforts to complete the objective assigned, is where the crux of the film lies.
The screenplay does not follow history of events verbatim, although there are striking resemblances & references with real time characters & incidents.
However, the message of the film is to highlight the real ‘beneficiaries’ behind anti-human activities throughout the world
Full credit goes to the writers Somnath Dey & Shubhendu Bhattacharya.
Dialogues by Juhi Chaturvedi are straight forward & crisp. The funniest of the lot was “Sir, I not a terrorist, I am a chemical engineer! ”
Kamaljit Negi’s outstanding cinematography with amazing locales & disturbing visuals sets the tone of the film. Music & Background Score by Shantanu Moitra is the just perfect.
Madras Cafe brings in a brigade of unusual, talented, unassuming actors, who do complete justice to their respective roles.
It would be unfair to single out individual performances. To name a few among known faces, John Abraham, Siddhartha Basu, Prakash Belawadi, Ajay Rathnam, Ad film maker – Piyush Pandey, stand out. Nargis Fakhri & Rashi Khanna plays their parts well.
Overall, an intelligent film by Shoojit Sircar, topped up by technical brilliance, aptly supported by his cast & crew. It’s a gentle reminder that sensible, hindi cinema does exist.
It’s up to the audience as to why we choose what we choose.
Rating : **** (4/5)
We The People 