Madras Cafe’ Hindi Movie Review

Director Shoojit Sircar and cinematographer Kamaljeet Negi join to work in perfect tandem and give us a fine end product that is worth more that just a watch. While Shoojit gives you a Govind Nihlani like punch filled narration reminding many of the motifs that told the tragedy of genocide in Sri Lanka, Kamaljeet gives you Sri Lanka as a picturesque backdrop to the bloody story. It is amazing how he lets you breathe the background without being distracted from the narration. Shoorjit’s present outing is as different as chalk is from cheese in compare to his earlier Vicky Donor and not since Raj Kumar Santoshi have we had a film maker who is willing to work on shockingly varied subjects with equal amount of success.
Also the flow of the 130 minute narration is smooth, with a great eye for detail and the narrative style is honest to the script. Elsewhere, John Abraham is stated to have made clear that the film stems from the desire to present a credible side of Indian cinema. The film maker and the star can take consolation in the fact that the mission is more than achieved. Will it make it to the Rs. 200 Crores club? It will not. Will it remain etched in the mind of the informed viewer of how cinema can be riveting, thought provoking and yet entertaining, the answer is a screaming Yeah.
Madras Café gets it’s name from a Restaurant in London where the plan for the assassination of the former Indian Prime Minister Rajeev Gandhi germinates. The film narrates the background in a right mix of a docu drama. We thus travel to the incidences of the revolt of the Tamil Eelam groups in Sri Lanka against a government with a notoriety for human rights violation. The politics is epidermal to the narration and no stance is taken. It perhaps strengthens its narrative credibility by presenting the flow chart rather than taking an moralistic stance. For once there is no chest beating patriotism, there is not much finger pointing at people or causes, and if we are taking a few stolen compliments in the context of history and patting Rajeev Gandhi on his back, we are doing it with subtlety.
So we have Vikram Singh (John) in a small church in the backyards of Kerala at a church confessing to having failed to save the life of the former Prime Minister despite his best efforts. As a serviceman drawn in RAW, the country’s premiere Intelligence agency and trusted with the job to play a subtle political game to play up one politician against the other. The strategy is obvious: play up the moderate against the extremist. Thus the task is to set Shri (Kanan Arunachalam) against Anna Bhaskaran (Ajay Ratnam). But the world of intelligence is filled with the treacherous or victims of black mail and double cross. Arms deal, genocide, political one upmanship and innocent victims take the tale to the climax. We all know the climax. We know that the suicide bombers are at large in Chennai and the ex Prime Minister a soft target. The terrorists are just a step ahead of the police and thus the tragedy.
What makes for compelling viewing is also the fact that there are protagonist is not a a superman. He is human and trying to do his best. His superiors Robin Dutt (Sidharth Basu) are others are not the villains or the dumb and corrupt stereotypes. Vikram has for company his wife Ruby (Raashi Khanna) and a journalist Jaya (Nargis Fakri). NO item songs, no romance. Just a smooth flowing tale gripped in political intrigue and human affairs tinted by the game of politics and exploitation. The cast delivers. No one over reaches. Specific mention is to be made of Nargis Fakri for essaying her role with a lot of class and keeping it to the minimum.
The film however finally belongs to the crew and surely a film that Shoojit Sircar can be proud of. This Madras Café has just the right menu served in right proportions. Go for it.