Madras Cafe - Brain food with a dash of thrill

From the makers of last year's surprise smash Vicky Donor now give us a flick of a nearly polar opposite genre. Touted to be a gritty spy thriller set in the troubled times of Jaffna, Madras Cafe from director Shoojit Sircar, written by Somnath Dey and Shubendhu Bhattacharya and starring producer John Abraham, Nargis Fakhri, Ajay Ratnam, Siddharth Basu and Piyush Pandey among others, also presents an interpretation of the Indian Intelligence procedures to uncover the conspiracy behind the assassination of Ex-Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Making this film in a non conducive environment as India must have been an uphill task indeed. In addition to courting ample controversies, this film has also earned the wrath of those sympathetic with the dwellers of Eelam. Transcending all these obstacles, Madras Cafe has hit the theatres and one finds that this film has a great deal more to offer than the regular espionage thrillers seen till date in Bollywood.

Plot:

The plot is set between the late 1980s and the date of the assassination i.e 1991. Vikram Singh, a RAW agent is sent to Jaffna to lead the field intelligence operations of the peace keeping forces. As he digs into his job, he finds out that there is a leak in his own organisation and that his own life is in danger. Furthermore, he finds out that all of this is insignificant and that it all opens up to a bigger conspiracy with long term National implications.

Story, Screenplay and Direction:

Madras Cafe is one such film where the script and direction are the 100% heroes. The characters in the film derive their well etched contours only due to the strength of the script. The script is absolutely made of stuff that says "No Nonsense". Some outstanding writing can be seen here. There is nothing conventionally Bollywood like in this film. The writers have filled the script with factual references and real life happenings whilst bringing in a plausible plot between the same. The events on screen move at a rapid pace with each being as intriguing as the other. What is notable is the pain taken to avoid references to any name or person whilst depicting actual persons. The story line is sound and rock solid. The only disadvantage here is that too much information has been crammed into the film. This means that those who are not aware of the events that make up the subject, will probably be flummoxed. The care taken for intricate details about intelligence operations and political crisis without any direct reference to any real historical figure is laudable. The film anyway succeeds in conveying the event intended to the viewer. Sircar gives this script the stellar direction it needs. The direction supersedes the incompetence of the lead actors to make a flick in which every event depicted speaks for itself. In a nutshell, the script is the winner all the way in Madras Cafe. It is the most brainiest script to come out this year.

Performances:

The performances by the lead actors are ordinary to the level of break even adequacy. John Abraham is well suited for his role owing to his robust physique. But he is as stiff in intense sequences as he always is. Nargis Fakhri gets a pivotal role in the nature of an on and off appearance and does a decent job of it. The rest of the cast has minor roles that supplement the plot. As said earlier, the film is totally story driven and the characters are mere cogs of the big machine.

Technicalities:

Technical aspects are sound. Kamaljeet Negi has canned the troubles of Jaffna very well. Through his lens, we can see a great deal of the script's effectiveness. Editing by Chandrashekhar. P is pitch perfect. The film drops in pace at no point of time and neither does any scene seem ineffective. The sequencing of the events is like a perfect set of pictures for a kinetoscope. The Background score by Shantanu Moitra is apt.

Madras Café is the kind of diet that Bollywood connoisseurs have been starving for. Though brainy thrillers are by no means non existent, they are very few and this one is perfect brain food. But prepare to be confused if you don’t know your history. A heavyweight thriller with a razor edge script and stellar direction, Madras Café is a gritty and harrowing reality check that in addition to providing a look at field level covert operations, also derives very well from one of the most tragic events in Indian History.

Rating : 3.5 on 5