Madras Cafe (2013)

Film Perfection

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

i think i have seen this movie 10 times and yet it wont bore me...don't know if the story is true or made up...John Abrahm has done a masterpiece.. a matured attempt to show that India is serious about quality movies....i think shoojit had been burning his A** out to make some thing very very different from the usual bollywood masala types... SHOOJIT i Bow you my friend...thanks for this brilliant movie...its a simple movie in fact its a kind of documentary and may not be of interest to non indians...but the way the movie was directed is worth watching again and again....best scene to watch for is ...BALA : you are doing good work, you report directly to me ....

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. Madras Cafe presents a whole new perspective on the tragic Rajiv Gandhi assassination, believed to have been carried under the orders of the now deceased Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) chief Velupillai Prabhakaran, underpinning a whole new conspiracy angle to it.So, what exactly is a conspiracy theory? Generally, whenever someone famous is assassinated (or, for that matter, in the occurrence of any other controversial event of national or international importance) the grapevine floods with loads of conspiracy theories. While every such theory is backed up by some sort of evidence, it is rarely concrete. Besides, if we were to go by the proponents of conspiracy theories, there are always powerful lobbies exercising their influence to keep such "truths" buried forever.While the genre is infantile when it comes to Hindi cinema, it's quite a successful formula in Hollywood. The fact that Madras Cafe is the first of its kind in India makes its success considerably important from cinematic point of view. Choosing to make a film on the sensitive and divisive subject of the LTTE takes courage, let aside realising a film that revolves around the Rajiv Gandhi assassination and throws in a brand new conspiracy theory angle to it. 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 film touches upon themes that are often considered quite challenging and difficult to tackle in Indian cinema parlance. The movie is at par with any Hollywood product on the technical front. The acting ranges from average to good. While Nargis Fakhri appears to be quite comfortable in her role, John Abraham undoubtedly delivers his best performance ever. Though he may not be as toned down as he himself claims to be, he seems to fit into the shoes of the character quite well and even manages to bring in a much needed element of realism and machismo to his part. While the movie doesn't appear to be taking any sides, its detractors may criticise it for implicitly creating a wave of sympathy for one political group in particular, especially with India's general elections fast approaching. Madras Cafe is a thinking man's espionage-cum-political thriller and is most likely to disappoint those on the lookout for voyeurism and masala entertainment. But, it's a movie that every serious film-goer must watch. 8/10A more in-depth review can be read at:http://www.apotpourriofvestiges.com/

This is one of the few documentaries movies made India. All the credit goes to the director and producer (john himself) for bringing out wonderful movie, we are not sure about the facts as many have criticized saying that all the views were not expressed..But lets leave those apart and try to see how the things have happened during those crunch times. John has to be credited more for choosing such a subject to produce and act in it. His career took another turn after this movie. Truly now everyone takes him seriously rather than earlier times. soorjit right from his first movie..than came Vicky donor(unconventional subject for Indian market but it worked wonders) This is the first documentary which reminded me of Green zone, hurt locker experience while watching..Nargis (super accent to start with)if she had debuted with this movie in Bollywood it would have been the best decision nevertheless awesome movie, superb performance and shot extremely well.

A very good movie especially for john Abrahim. I like the movie all the way, only the end was not extraordinary but for sure the movie was a must watch. I would like to specially thank Mr. Shoojit Sircar for choosing John for this role, as he is the perfect guy in the bollywood for this type of roles. Thanks again for giving us such a nice story. This movie definitely drives us to a different way that we generally don't have in other bollywood movies. It is not having even a single piece of comedy and not also any romantic scenes, just a thriller but for sure it can compete to any army based movie or a political thriller ever made. Best Thing: very very strong story line and John of course.Worst Thing: Nothing worse at all, a little disappointment was at the end not being something special.