By Ankush Kumar
Cast: John Abraham, Nargis Fakhri, and Raashi Khanna.
Introduction: Coffee apart, this one filters bullshit as well and presents an engaging political thriller; get off the train baby and head right into ‘Madras Cafe’.
Premise: This is a story about a hero who fails to save the Prime minister. It’s built around the incidents leading upto the assassination of the Prime minister.
Plot: ‘Madras Cafe’ is a dark, deep and exemplary film about the politics of separatism. If you have a penchant for history and know a little about the LTTE struggle, the connect will be instant. For the naive, it still is an engaging entertainer. Even though no names are taken its quite obvious that the story is about Prabhakaran, LTTE and the killing of Rajiv Gandhi.
Technical Insight: The cinematography by Kamaljeet Negi captures the right tones throughout, the music is unconventional but has a double play value, the editing and sound designs is the stand out aspect of the film. But what puts a cherry on the top is the direction of Shoojit Sircar.
Acting: John Abraham plays a RAW agent, and for a change looks and behaves like one. Nargis Fakhri essays the role of a war correspondent and does it brilliantly. Raashi Khanna is promising but the stand out one is is Prakash Belawade as John associate who takes home the honors.
Kela moment: Jaya speaking in English and Vikram answering in Hindi.
Citizen Kane moment: The climax of the movie.
Brownie points: 4 out of 5.
Related articles
- Chennai, please support ‘Madras Cafe’, says John Abraham (ibnlive.in.com)
- John on ‘Madras Cafe’: Won’t accept bullying tactics (ibnlive.in.com)
- Madras Cafe not based on Rajiv Gandhi: Shoojit Sircar (dnaindia.com)
- Shooting from the lip (thehindu.com)
