Madras Cafe

Plot synopsis:
The plot opens in Jaffna, where a bus full of passengers is stopped by armed men. They take all of them out and kill them mercilessly. A little girl tries to escape, but is shot and killed immediately.
The movie then moves to Kasauli, where a bearded man, later revealed to be Vikram Singh (John Abraham) wakes up after having visions of men getting killed. He then finds on TV that the Sri Lankan Prime Minister is killed by a human bomb. He purchases a bottle of liquor and goes to a nearby church. The priest of that church, who seems to know him for the past three years, asks him about his "conspiracy" when he says that "Our Prime Minister could have been saved from the conspiracy". The bearded man then starts narrating his story.
The film then goes five years back, when the man tells that the continuous battle between the majority in Sri Lanka Sinhalese and minorities Tamils had reached a dangerous level. In that battle thousands of Tamils lost their lives, causing their youths to take weapons in their hands and join the LTF leader Anna Bhaskaran (a character based on the real-life LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran). Due to the plight of Tamils there, the Indian Prime Minister (Sanjay Gurubaxani) decided to sign a peace accord with Sri Lankan Government and said that the elections should happen there peacefully before Diwali. However, Anna refused to accept the accord and the Indian Peace Keeping Forces were forced to withdraw from the island. A heated meeting in New Delhi between the Indian officials leads Robin Dutt aka RD (Siddharth Basu), the R&AW chief, to call upon his best man, Maj. Vikram Singh to find out the solution.
After meeting and discussing the strategy with RD and his deputy, Swaroop (Avijit Dutt) Vikram travels to Sri Lanka and meets a war correspondent Jaya Sahni (Nargis Fakhri) and tries to find out a way to stop the rebels. After reporting to his senior Bala (Prakash Belwadi) he tries to find some that may help to find Shri, the only man who can withstand and oppose Anna. After meeting with an informer called Narayanan, Vikram manages to visit Shri. Vikram promises Shri to help him rise against Anna by providing him with arms. The arms deal date is decided at 6 July. However, the deal goes terribly wrong and one of Vikram's associates is killed in a surprise attack by LTF. Bala scolds Vikram of his working style and tells him to go to Colombo Safehouse. Vikram meets Jaya to seek her help. Jaya tells him that they know his next step even before he implement it. However, she tells him that "a foreign agency guy met with an Indian official" before her arrival in the island. Next day, Vasu, Bala's associate, meets a man, gives him a photo of Vikram, telling him "to keep him alive".
Meanwhile, RD and his team is shocked to learn on TV that Vikram is kidnapped by LTF. However, he is left alive by LTF, but badly wounded. Bala visits him in the hospital and tells him to leave Sri Lanka as he is on the hit-list of both the camps. Vikram feels suspicious about Bala. He calls SP, one of his associates, and tells him to report all activities of Bala to him. Vikram, posing as a war correspondent, manages to reach Malaya, second in-command of Anna and persuades him to meet RD in Colombo. RD tells him that the only way this war could be won is by a political solution. He instigates Malaya to stand up as the only champion of his people, thus dividing the LTF in two. Vikram and Indian forces then launch a massive attack on the LTF base camp where Anna and his men (minus Malaya) were discussing strategy. A devastating gunbattle begins, and Vikram escapes from the island after being told by RD. Everyone believes Anna got killed in the fight. However, Anna survives and later kills Malaya and Shri. In the light of the resurfaced violence, the Indian Prime Minister resigns. Some months later, SP later tracks some discussion of Anna over the phone and tells Bala about this, but Bala tells him to ignore them, causing SP to believe that Bala might be a mole. He escapes with the intercepts and files of the case. Bala finds about it and burns the remaining papers, later telling someone over the phone that SP and Vikram are in Kochi and he should send some men there. Vikram later receives a call from SP who tells him to meet him. After meeting with SP, Vikram comes home to find Ruby (Rashi Khanna), his wife, murdered. Vikram's associate in Kochi, Kush tells him that Vasu has been tracked. He nabs Vasu from a theatre and asks him what he knows. Vasu tells him that indeed Bala was a leak and he was helping him along with a person named Reed from Singapore. Vikram calls Jaya and requests her to use her sources. She agrees to help and later consoles Vikram about his wife.
As told by Jaya, Vikram reaches Bangkok where a source of Jaya (Dibang) tells him that he has a tape. Vikram is shocked to see that Bala was honeytrapped, forcing him to divulge all the information about their movements. Bala later commits suicide by shooting himself. Back in Delhi, R&AW had decoded the intercepts and had also found out about Bala's fake passports and unknown bank accounts. RD realises that this might be a Code Red, to assassinate the ex Prime Minister. He asks Vikram to take care of this and tells his team to seal the coastline. A massive manhunt begins and hundreds of LTF associates are nabbed by Indian security forces and local cops. In the Madras R&AW office, Arjun, an officer tracks down the conversation of Vijayan Joseph, a bombmaker and Anna and tells this to Rishi (Tarun Bali). Rishi tells this to Vikram and further says that Kannan Kanan, an associate of Anna's man Kanda, is in Madurai Jail and might be helpful. Kannan reveals that some suspicious refugees came from the island to Tamil Nadu. After a short but important meeting with Jaya, Vikram sees X on a clock at the Airport and deduces that the LTF is going to assassinate the ex PM on the same day at X PM (10 PM). RD then calls the ex PM to cancel his rally, but he replies that he'll be alright. Vikram then manages to catch Vijayan from his hideout who tells that the refugees are going to assassinate the ex PM by plastic explosives which are untraceable to metal detectors.
Vikram rushes to the place where the ex PM is taking part in the rally. He reaches there nearly on time, but the suicide bomber manages to put the wreath on the neck of the ex PM and while bowing down, she pulls the trigger and kills him along with herself and many others. Vikram manages to recover but sits there dejected and defeated. Later, Vikram submits his report on the assassination to the investigation committee who considers his report. A few days later, RD too resigns, and Vikram, after taking a voluntary retirement, comes in Kasauli.
The movie comes to present where the priest asks Vikram who won the battle. Vikram says he doesn't know, but in this battle, Indians lost their Prime Minister and Lankan lost their future. He later walks away, reciting the lines of "Where the mind is without fear". He completes another report and sends it to Jaya in Singapore who starts her work on that report. In Kasauli, Vikram moves out of the house he was living in.
An epilogue tells that the civil war continued for 27 years, killing more than 40 thousand Sri Lankan subjects, 30 thousand Tamil rebels, 21 Sri Lankan forces and 1200 Indian forces, and still thousands of Lankan Tamils are homeless. In 2009, Sri Lankan forces launched a brutal aerial and land attack, finishing the rebels along with their leader.

Tags: violence, romantic

Review:
'Madras Cafe' is unarguably a gem of a movie that belongs to a rare genre of Bollywood cinema and deserves much more attention and applause than what it's being receiving.The film is based on the backdrop of the Sri Lankan civil war in the late 1980's and early 1990's.
Its tells the conspiracy behind the assassination of ex-prime minister of India and the War situation in Baffna region of Sri Lanka...The movie is fast paced and is so intriguing and well-crafted that it can be easily this years best...With zero publicity stunts, Madras Cafe director Shoojit Sircar tries to go out of conventions and comes up with this masterpiece...Political thrillers are ones which people in bollywood rarely attempt, and Shoojit does it bravely...Right from the start, the plot involves you in such a way that it is hard to come out of it.The pace of the movie, entangled characters,series of events, unveiling of conspiracies and then finally the climax- all are up to mark and hence make this movie a spectacle to watch...The Screenplay is fabulous- it divides the movie in two parts efficiently.
First, the war conditions in Baffna and then the assassination plot.In between shocking plots are revealed and it covers a vast script in its runtime.The reason why i compare this with Hollywood masterpieces like blood diamond and green zone is not because of the similarity, but due to the fact that Madras Cafe maintains the originality of facts while imbibing the fast paced and thrilling plot.John Abraham plays the lead role and this could be his best performance after dhoom, and does total justice to his role.Nargis Fakhri is the surprise package and shows that she can be versatile...The supporting cast is totally naive but they give their very best...The only drawback or error you can say is relatively average editing.Its cliché and too short for many scenes...But as a whole, Madras Cafe is a sinister, evil political thriller which is supported by intense acting and direction and the plot is simply ravishing.Its a sign that bollywood has started making sensible movies on a large scale.Madras Cafe is not for crowd who like Chennai Express,Rowdy Rathore or Dabang, but it for those who acknowledge movies like A Wednesday, Shanghai and Rang De Basanti.
Rather than writing a long review explaining the Pros and Cons this is Indian Cinema which now is evolved.Rather than pleasing the masses they have now gone ahead and showed the truth.The beauty is that even when the audience knows that what has to happen in the end The director still holds us to the movie.It can be said now that filmmakers in India can 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.
A Must Watch film and good job by Shoojit Sircar.Well Done Team of Madras Cafe..
I'm a stranger to Indian cinema, other than being familiar with the usual clichés of Bollywood-style song, dance and drama.I read some reviews here, recommending this movie, and calling it a genuine political thriller.
Entirely because they neither have the required competency in story telling nor in story enacting, the two vital components which Hollywood has mastered when it comes to war movies/political thrillers (think Argo, Platoon, Z, The Manchurian Candidate etc).Shoojit Sircar's "Madras Cafe" is a stupidly simplistic, glossing over the facts, adolescent comic book take on the vexed, complicated, multi layered, half a century old Tamil – Sinhala strife in SriLanka.
However not only the makers are to be blamed here for poor films for the whole year, it's the viewers who make a garbage throwaway.When masala trash of greedy producers holds back the Indian cinema from making a decent piece of work, movies like Madras Cafe catapults it in to the 21st century cinema.
Madras Cafe the reality of another War. Someone who wanted to get good idea about regional terror activities and banality of them should watch Madras Café, It is really good to keep balanced judgment and image about what was happened in past with dark clouds of terrorism in Sri Lanka, and Acting of John is really brilliant,without any doubt Madras café is one of the greatest war film that there has ever been,and as a director Shoojit Sircar has done his best to this movie,So it is very pleasure to watch this movie from start to end.
Madras Cafe is a 2013 political thriller film directed by Indian filmmaker Shoojit Sircar, starring John Abraham as an undercover Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) agent and Nargis Fakhri as an international war correspondent.
And the fact that films based on real-life sensitive issues and historical events in a country like India are believed to stir up political tension and cause chaos makes their effort even more commendable.Overall, Madras Cafe proves to be a great viewing experience for the serious audience.
The events leading up to the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, India's ex-PM whilst he was campaigning for re-election in Sriperumbudur District, near Chennai in south India on 21 May 1991 by 'Dhanu', a female suicide 'Tamil Tiger', is the subject of this latest attempt at gritty political Bollywood cinema.Told largely in flashback, we follow Indian army officer Major Vikram Singh (John Abraham) who is appointed by the Research and Analysis Wing ('RAW'), the Indian equivalent of the CIA, to conduct covert operations in the then on-going civil war in Sri Lanka in the late 1980s.Patriotic Vikram ('My country's security is my responsibility!') leaves his teary but dutiful 'army' wife Ruby (Rashi Khanna, in her debut) and travels by boat from south India to the war-torn 'island of jewels'.En-route, he encounters a no-nonsense (she smokes!) British journalist, Jaya (Nargis Fakhri, last seen in 'Rockstar'), who speaks with an inexplicable American twang.Both are on the search for Anna (Ajay Bhaskaran) the leader of LFT which is clearly modelled on the real Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam ('Tamil Tigers') who are fighting for a separate Tamil 'Eelam' ('homeland') for the Tamil minority away from the rest of the largely Sinhalese majority.Vikram wants to eliminate Anna; Jaya simply wants a scoop!
The events leading up to the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, India's ex-PM whilst he was campaigning for re-election in Sriperumbudur District, near Chennai in south India on 21 May 1991 by 'Dhanu', a female suicide 'Tamil Tiger', is the subject of this latest attempt at gritty political Bollywood cinema.Told largely in flashback, we follow Indian army officer Major Vikram Singh (John Abraham) who is appointed by the Research and Analysis Wing ('RAW'), the Indian equivalent of the CIA, to conduct covert operations in the then on-going civil war in Sri Lanka in the late 1980s.Patriotic Vikram ('My country's security is my responsibility!') leaves his teary but dutiful 'army' wife Ruby (Rashi Khanna, in her debut) and travels by boat from south India to the war-torn 'island of jewels'.En-route, he encounters a no-nonsense (she smokes!) British journalist, Jaya (Nargis Fakhri, last seen in 'Rockstar'), who speaks with an inexplicable American twang.Both are on the search for Anna (Ajay Bhaskaran) the leader of LFT which is clearly modelled on the real Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam ('Tamil Tigers') who are fighting for a separate Tamil 'Eelam' ('homeland') for the Tamil minority away from the rest of the largely Sinhalese majority.Vikram wants to eliminate Anna; Jaya simply wants a scoop!
With the exception of some pre-credit titles explaining about the then on-going civil war in Sri Lanka, the film is not interested in any meaningful attempt at a socio-historical-political explanation of the bloody civil war which had been brewing since the 1950s and, up to the cease fire in the early 2000s, claimed hundreds of thousands of innocent lives.Instead director Shoojit 'Vicky Donor' Sircar is intent on making an unapologetic, almost propaganda piece with the clear intent of absolving the Indian authorities of any mismanagement in the build up to and the prevention of the assassination.
With the exception of some pre-credit titles explaining about the then on-going civil war in Sri Lanka, the film is not interested in any meaningful attempt at a socio-historical-political explanation of the bloody civil war which had been brewing since the 1950s and, up to the cease fire in the early 2000s, claimed hundreds of thousands of innocent lives.Instead director Shoojit 'Vicky Donor' Sircar is intent on making an unapologetic, almost propaganda piece with the clear intent of absolving the Indian authorities of any mismanagement in the build up to and the prevention of the assassination.
Sircar incorporates an unnecessary and clumsy 'kiss n sex' scene.Some dialogue ('this is going to be a long war!, 'the first causalities are always innocent civilians', 'this conversation never happened!', 'You cannot give up on the system!', and my favourite: 'He got honey trapped!"), often repeated, is cringe worthy.The film ends with Abraham reciting a famous Rabindranath Tagore poem ('When the mind knows no fear') but by this time you probably will not care.If you are looking for Indian films which address, inter alia, events leading up to this sad event, it's probably worth seeking out Santosh Sivan's sensitive Tamil film 'The Terrorist' (1998), Mani Ratnam's moving Tamil hit 'Kannathil Mutthamittal' (2002) and even the Malayalam Mammooty potboiler 'Mission 90 Days' (2007).It's welcome that Bollywood is experimenting with new bold controversial subjects like this.It's a pity then that it gets it so wrong again.Even so, its fundamental flaws can even be forgiven (especially as there are no songs or 'item' numbers!).
Sircar incorporates an unnecessary and clumsy 'kiss n sex' scene.Some dialogue ('this is going to be a long war!, 'the first causalities are always innocent civilians', 'this conversation never happened!', 'You cannot give up on the system!', and my favourite: 'He got honey trapped!"), often repeated, is cringe worthy.The film ends with Abraham reciting a famous Rabindranath Tagore poem ('When the mind knows no fear') but by this time you probably will not care.If you are looking for Indian films which address, inter alia, events leading up to this sad event, it's probably worth seeking out Santosh Sivan's sensitive Tamil film 'The Terrorist' (1998), Mani Ratnam's moving Tamil hit 'Kannathil Mutthamittal' (2002) and even the Malayalam Mammooty potboiler 'Mission 90 Days' (2007).It's welcome that Bollywood is experimenting with new bold controversial subjects like this.It's a pity then that it gets it so wrong again.Even so, its fundamental flaws can even be forgiven (especially as there are no songs or 'item' numbers!).
Shoojit Sircar﻿'s MADRAS CAFE is perhaps the first movie to come out of Indian film industry that has has no actors, just characters, including the well known star John Abraham.
Siddharth Basu is flawless.Politically, there have been many protests on this movie about taking sides but if you watch it as viewer,Madras Cafe is one of the best movies to come out in Bollywood because of its different style of portraying the scenario.
Madras Cafe has its own share of story which has been blunt and hard-hitting and yet hair-raising.Set in 90's , Madras Cafe debriefs the true story of planning and assassination of Indian ex-prime minister Rajiv Gandhi by LTTE suicide bomber which shocked the entire world and led to a Indian politics letdown.From critical acclaim films like Yahaan and Vicky Donor , Shoojit Sircar explores a new area which I guess no other Indian filmmaker has attempted till now and gives heart-wrenching political thriller which is sure to give you a goose bumps.
Siddharth Basu , Nargis Fakhri and other star cast lends a good support.Overall , Madras Cafe is heart-wrenching , reality-based political thriller that is going to get goose bumps.
It is a high intense drama thriller where the tension is high, characters are there not just for the sake of it, absence of songs are there so as not to spoil the mood(they really were not needed) and finally the story is moving.Madras Cafe is set against the backdrop of Sri Lankan Civil War in the 1980s and is about the lives of civilian getting destroyed as they hang in the middle of the government and LTF.The main plot revolves around the,as they say, Grand-Conspiracy of the assassination of the Ex Prime Minister of India by many external forces so as to control the economy of the world.I am still amazed with the fact that Shoojit Sircar who made the light hearted Vicky Donor is the same man behind Madras Cafe.
He is the real hero behind the movie and certainly has become one of those directors to watch out for in future.The casting of the movie is very well balanced as Nargis speaks English because she is just terrible when she speaks Hindi(Rockstar), John Abraham makes you feel for the character Vikram.
Yes there was only one song which came when the end credits started to roll in the movie but still the background score provided by Shantanu Moitra was excellent and really keeps the tension alive which was certainly needed for a movie of this kind.Madras Cafe is one of those rare movies where thriller doesn't get converted into a comedy and obviously where second half is better than the first.Finally this film ends giving tribute to Shri Rabindranath Tagore by using his poem 'Where the mind is without fear.......' This film certainly means business..
This brings together the hit combo of director Shoojit Sircar and actor-producer John Abraham who wowed their detractors with the sleeper hit of 2012 -Vicky Donor.With Madras café, touted as one of the most compelling political thriller of recent times,Sircar examines the inexorable assassination of our Ex-PM, Rajiv Gandhi against the backdrop of the deadliest ethnic crisis which engulfed Srilanka during the 80's.Right from the outset, Sircar arrests your attention with the gritty and gloomy portrayal of the Srilankan civil war, the terrorist outfits and the responsive action by the Indian government to curb the growing violence.
John Abraham plays Vikram Singh,an Intelligence officer,Ex- Indian Army man who is deployed by his senior RD(Siddharth Basu,in a towering performance)to the war-torn coastal island to break a resolute group , LTF headed by Anna Bhaskaran (Ajay Ratnam)modeled closely after the LTTE Chief,Prabhakaran.With the help of a British journalist,Jaya Sahni ( Nargis Fakhri in a de-glam role),Vikram uncovers a deeper conspiracy of terrifying proportion and ramifications involving political figures, bureaucrats and economic 'hitmen'.Suspenseful, sweeping and piercingly intimate, this is a complex web weaved by Sircar and his team of writers Shubhendu Bhattacharya and Somnath Dey which rapidly shuttles between our capital, Singapore, Bangkok and Kerela.There is a lot of clumsy high-powered conversations, coded messages, intercepts and bloody betrayals on the ground which might irk the viewer.DOP,Kamaljit Negi effervescently captures the moribund civilization of Jaffna and the war belt where humanity is endangered.
I think the movie topped in many crafts - direction, acting, story, screenplay, cinematography, sound effects...Absolutely loved it and probably the only Indian movie in recent times I want to watch again in theater.The theme revolves around Srilankan Civil War. It expects you to be attentive and takes on a trip to serious study of an important chapter in Indian history.As I read somewhere, The film deserves an audience and may be the best political conspiracy thriller in Indian cinema.Kudos to the Madras Cafe team for making an impactful cinema..
Set in the late 1980s and early '90s, during the time of Indian intervention in the Sri Lankan civil war, 'Madras Cafe' is A Solid Political Espionage Thriller by Director Shoojit Sircar.
What we see in Madras Cafe is totally gripping- when Vikram Singh and Jaya, a foreign journalist exchange some significant and confidential information about the LTF and the leak in the Indian intelligence agency that actually results in a total transformation in the set of international events.John Abraham has acted exceptionally well in the character- who tries his best to embark upon the precarious struggle going on in Sri Lanka.
Shoojit Sircar's 'Madras Cafe' is a tight and gripping account on the Sri Lankan Civil war and Rajiv Gandhi assassination.
Only people aware of the subcontinent's political history and turmoil can thoroughly enjoy this movie, and what a treat it is, right up to inevitable but well-shot climatic assassination scene which leaves you paralyzed.After their thought-provoking and entertaining comedy 'Vicky Donor', with this movie it seems like Sircar and John (who produced Donor too) are here to change the ways stories are told in Bollywood - it's quite a welcome change!.
Even though the movie is based on true events the story, screenplay is the true hero and well supported by all the actors specially John, Nargis and Siddarth Basu ( refreshing to see him after a long time).Hats off to John and Shoojit for making this great thriller, made under Rs 10 crores.Go enjoy a riveting thrilling and gripping 130 mins of Madras Cafe..
The story is gripping enough and manages to develop interest among the viewers.Shoojit Sircar yet another time, after Vicky Donor, has created a masterpiece, and Madras Cafe is the best of all his movies so far.Very rare number of Bollywood movies is made in such fashion, with no songs, no dance, and the only priority being the plot.John Abraham and Nargis Fakhri, both who are generally criticized regarding their acting skills have finely portrayed their character roles, one being an Intelligence agent and other a foreign journalist.In short words, it is an epic real life conspiracy thriller which is made into a film in the best possible manner!
Shoojit Sircar had a clear direction, pace of movie to narrate this sequence of events that led to one of the biggest disaster in Indian politics and its relation to Sri Lankan civil war.
Shoojit Sircar's Madras Cafe starring John Abraham and Nargis Fakhri is not just another typical Bollywood masala flick but is a thought provoking, heart touching political drama.
John Abraham surely needs many pats on his back for producing movie like Vicky donor and Madras Cafe.