| Madras Cafe | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Shoojit Sircar |
| Screenplay by | Somnath Dey Shubendu Bhattacharya |
| Dialogues by | Juhi Chaturvedi |
| Story by | Somnath Dey Shubendu Bhattacharya |
| Produced by | John Abraham[1] Ronnie Lahiri[2][3] Sheel Kumar Sudhanshu Vats |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Kamaljeet Negi |
| Edited by | Chandrashekhar Prajapati |
| Music by | Shantanu Moitra |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Viacom 18 Motion Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 120 minutes[4] |
| Country | India |
| Language | Hindi |
| Budget | ₹35 crore[5] |
| Box office | ₹67 crore[6] |
Madras Cafe is a 2013 IndianHindi-languagepoliticalaction thriller film[7] directed byShoojit Sircar and produced by John Abraham and Ronnie Lahiri under the bannersJA Entertainment andRising Sun Films. The film starsJohn Abraham,Nargis Fakhri andRaashii Khanna (in her film debut) in the lead roles.[1][8][9] The film is set in the late 1980s and early 1990s, during the time ofIndian intervention in theSri Lankan civil war andassassination of Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. The film revolves around an Indian soldier who is appointed by the intelligence agencyR&AW to head covert operations inNorthernSri Lanka shortly afterIndian peace-keeping force was forced to withdraw.[10][11]
Madras Cafe was released on 23 August 2013, to positive reviews from critics. The film was declared as an above average grosser at the box office.[12] The film won theNational Film Award for Best Audiography for Nihar Ranjan Samal and Bishwadeep Chatterjee at the61st National Film Awards.[13]
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The plot opens inJaffna, Sri Lanka, where a bus full ofTamil passengers is stopped by armedSinhalese men and all are massacred.
A man inKasauli, revealed to be Vikram Singh sees on TV that the Sri Lankan President has been killed by a suicide bomber. In a nearby church he confesses to Priest, "Our Prime Minister could have been saved from the conspiracy." and Vikram starts narrating his story to the priest.
The film then moves five years back, where clashes between theSri Lankan Government Forces andTamil militant groups had reached a dangerous level. The Tamil youth have taken weapons and joined the Liberation Tamil Front (LTF) leader Anna ("Elder Brother" inTamil) Bhaskaran (a character based on the real-life LTTE leaderVelupillai Prabhakaran). The Indian Prime Minister (Sanjay Gurubaxani) decides to sign a peace accord with the Sri Lankan Government. However, Anna refuses to accept the accord, and theIndian Peacekeeping Forces are forced to withdraw from the island. Robin Dutt, aka RD, the R&AW chief, calls upon his best man, Maj. Vikram Singh.
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. After reporting to his senior Balakrishnan (based on real-life person K V Unnikrishnan), he tries to find someone who may help to find Shri, the only man who can withstand and oppose Anna. Vikram manages to visit Shri and promises Shri to help him rise against Anna by providing him with arms. However, the deal goes terribly wrong, and one of Vikram's associates is killed in a surprise attack by LTF, who do away with the weapons consignment.
Meanwhile, Vikram is kidnapped by LTF. The Indian government sends forces and rescues Vikram. Balakrishnan tells him to leave Sri Lanka as he is on the hit list of both camps. Vikram feels suspicious about Balakrishnan. He calls SP, one of his associates, and tells him to report all activities of Balakrishnan . Vikram, posing as a war correspondent, meets Mallayya (based on real-life LTTE memberGopalaswamy Mahendraraja), second-in-command of Anna, and persuades him to meet RD in Colombo. RD instigates Mallaya to stand up as the only champion of his people, thus dividing the LTF in two.
TheIndian military then launches a massive attack on the LTF base camp, 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 Balakrishnan about this, but Bala tells him to ignore them, causing SP to believe that Balakrishnan might be a mole. He escapes with the intercepts and files of the case. Vikram receives a call from SP, who tells him to meet him. After meeting with SP, Vikram comes home to find Ruby, his wife, murdered. Vikram nabs Vasu from a theatre and asks him what he knows. Vasu tells him that indeed Balakrishnan was a leak, and he was helping him and Reed. Vikram calls Jaya and requests for help from her sources.
As told by Jaya, Vikram reachesBangkok, where a source of Jaya (Dibang) tells him that he has a tape. Vikram is shocked to see that Balakrishnan was honeytrapped, forcing him to divulge all the information about their movements. Balakrishnan later commits suicide by shooting himself.
Back in Delhi, RAW had decoded the intercepts realizes that this might be a Code Red to assassinate the ex-Prime Minister. A massive manhunt begins, and hundreds of LTF associates are nabbed by Indian security forces and local cops. In the Madras R&AW tracks down the conversation of Vijayan Joseph, a bombmaker, and Anna. Vikram finds 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 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 joseph from his hideout, who tells him that the refugees are going to assassinate the ex-PM with plastic explosives, which are untraceable by metal detectors.
Vikram rushes to the place where the ex-PM is taking part in the rally, 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 feels dejected and defeated. Later, Vikram submits his report on the assassination to the investigation committee. A few days later, RD too resigns, and Vikram, after taking voluntary retirement, comes to Kasauli.
The film comes back to the present, where the priest asks Vikram who won the battle. Vikram says he doesn't know, but in this battle, the Indians lost their Prime Minister, and the Sri Lankans lost their future. He later walks away, reciting the lines, "Where the mind is without fear." He completes another report and sends it to Jaya inLondon, who starts her work on that report; In Kasauli, Vikram is seen coming out of the house he was living in.
The end credits reveal that many Sri Lankan Tamils remain displaced abroad till this date.
As per John Abraham, "Madras Cafe brings us closer to what changed the political history of India."[16] The film, set in India and Sri Lanka, is a political spy thriller with the backdrop of theSri Lankan Civil War.[8] Major Vikram Singh (John Abraham) is anIndian Army Special Forces officer who is appointed by the intelligence agencyResearch and Analysis Wing to head covert operations inJaffna shortly after theIndian peace-keeping force was forced to withdraw.[8][14][30] As he journeys to Sri Lanka with the intention of disrupting theLTTE militants, he becomes entangled military & politics.[31] There he meets a British journalist Jaya Sahni (Nargis Fakhri)[32] who wants to reveal the truth about the civil war, and in the process he uncovers a conspiracy to assassinate the former Indian prime minister,Rajiv Gandhi, through the use of plastic explosives. Although Vikram tries, at 10:10 pm, an LTTE suicide bomberkills the ex-PM while bowing down to put a garland on his neck.[31]
“If I would have gone with this script to anyone else, they would have rejected it because of the kind of sensitivity the subject has. I don't want to name them, but three of them have already done it. Nobody was ready to produce the film... it's very daring of John Abraham and Viacom 18 Motion Pictures to back up this project," director Sircar told the press after the release of the film.[33] John Abraham said that director Shoojit Sircar narrated the script ofMadras Cafe to him in 2006 but could not get around to begin it. "After our last film together, we decided to get back to doing where we started off from. That's the story behindMadras Cafe," he said.[34]
Sircar stated, "The film is a work of fiction, but it is based on research into real events, it has a resemblance to actual political events, dealing with civil war and the ideology of a militant group."[31]
The film was initially titledJaffna after the northern Sri Lankan city.[35] It was renamedMadras Cafe, as the plot to kill Gandhi was hatched at the café.[36] The original location of the café is not specified in the film.[16]
John Abraham, the lead actor and one of the producers of the film, plays the main lead, Vikram Singh, a military officer who is sent to Jaffna to head RAW's covert operations. "I had to lose a lot of muscle because these officers look like regular people. When they are in a crowd, they are completely inconspicuous," says Abraham.[37] Commenting on remarks comparing his look toTom Hanks inCast Away, he said: "Deciding on my look for the movie was quite challenging. It took a lot of brain storming and we finalized this messy look, which apparently you think is inspired by Tom Hanks, but actually, it's not."[38]
American model-turned-actressNargis Fakhri was cast to play Jaya Sahni, a British journalist in Jaffna.[39] For the role of the foreign war correspondent, Fakhri was chosen because the director required "a girl who looked Indian but had an [English] accent". Thus this was the first film where her voice was not dubbed.[8][40] Initially, American-based actressFreida Pinto was chosen to portray Jaya Sahni, but due to prior commitments she withdrew from the project.[41]
Shoojit Sircar contacted modelSheetal Mallar for the film,[42] but as things did not work out, newcomer Rashi Khanna was signed for the role, marking her debut.[17] The cast also included a number of non-professional actors, such as quiz masterSiddharth Basu, filmmakerPrakash Belawadi and journalistDibang.[43]
Madras Cafe was shot inMalaysia,Thailand, London and India.[44] The Sri Lankan scenes of the film were shot in India, where the city ofJaffna and large parts of inner Sri Lanka were recreated. "We knew we couldn't shoot this in Sri Lanka, so we shot most of it inTamil Nadu andKerala and converted it into a war zone. The second part of the film is based in India, which is the politics part," said Sircar.[8][45] The first schedule of the film was shot extensively in southern India. The second schedule was shot inMumbai, outside India and in and around south India.[46] Several civil war scenes were shot in Bangkok aslight machine gun fire was not permitted in India. RealAK-47s,9mm Berettas andM60s were used, for which special permission was obtained from the local authorities.[47]
The trailer was released on 12 July 2013.[48] The film was also dubbed inTamil.[49]
The film was released on 23 August in India, the United States andUnited Arab Emirates.[50] However, it was not released in the United Kingdom and Canada as planned owing to the protests byTamil diaspora in regards to its depiction of the Tamil militants,[51] nor in Tamil Nadu where exhibitors feared its release was not worth the risk in regards to the controversy.[49]
The film was critically acclaimed.[52]The Times of India called the film political, tense and explosive. The daily praised the film's research, story and "remarkable" cinematography, remarking "Madras Cafe dives boldly into terrain Bollywood hasn't touched before. It highlights India's ambiguous role, moving sensitively, taking no sides, except those of relationships involving respect – but no romance – between Vikram Singh and Jaya Sahni, duty, victory and loss."[21] Reviewing for theHindustan Times,Anupama Chopra wrote "Madras Café works as an effective portrait of the futility of war. Shoojit Sircar and his writers, Shubhendu Bhattacharya and Somnath Dey, ably illustrate why there are no winners here. Ideologies are marred by corruption and brutality. Death is inevitable and victories, pyrrhic."[22]The Hindu praised director Sircar, saying, "For long, Hindi films made us believe that it is only Pakistan that we have to deal with. Shoojit Sircar touches base with Sri Lanka and unravels the complex 'Tamil problem' as many living North of the Vindhyas call it. Keeping the jingoistic flavour aside, he plays the game of shadows as it is played with all its muck and grime. His hint at a larger conspiracy of a syndicate with business interests in the region echoes whatAgent Vinod also hinted at, butSriram Raghavan got carried away with the demands of the box office. Sircar chooses to keep it closer to reality."[43] Baradwaj Rangan later wrote inThe Hindu, "Madras Café is not a comforting fantasy. It is the journey of any Indian operative who got wind of the fact that Rajiv Gandhi was going to be assassinated and did his damnedest to prevent it. The journalist in this film, for instance, is not the kind of cardboard cut-out we find inMadhur Bhandarkar andPrakash Jha films, but someone who has to decide between naming a source (and going against the ethics of her profession) and aiding an investigation."[53]
Rajeev Masand ofCNN-IBN also praised Sircar, opining, "Unlike, in the West, it's hard to make films on real-life historical events in India. Political pressures and sensitive groups invariably throw a spanner in the works. Which is why it's commendable what director Shoojit Sircar has undertaken withMadras Café."[54]
The Pakistani newspaperDawn gave the film a positive review by saying, "Shoojit Sircar's human-drama of politics, rebellion, genocide and spy-games adapts Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi's assassination plot, and the Sri Lankan civil war with sweaty palms and a gawky breakneck pace. And yet, for all its clumsy footing, at times, half-intelligent writing, it is engaging". The daily concludes that "For all its speed and embedded seriousness about global conflict, the nature of war, consequences and international trade,Madras Café's lack of braves turns it into mellow spy-thriller. And trust me, the words "mellow" and "spy-thriller" do not gel."[55]
Sircar garnered rave reviews for his story and direction.[33] "Watching Nargis Fakhri embodying the cliché of a writer hammering away at a typewriter with a cigarette stuck between her lips is a visual joke for the ages."The Hindu wrote in a later analysis, "The Tamil spoken in the film isn'tSri Lankan Tamil but the language you hear on the streets of Chennai – an odd gaffe for a film filled with so much research."[53]
Madras Cafe finished its theatrical run at the box office with average numbers. The film, which ruled the box office in its first week, saw a fall in business in its second week due to the release ofSatyagraha. However, the film still fetched₹86.3 million (US$1.0 million) in its second week, taking the grand total to₹427 million (US$5.1 million).[6]
Madras Cafe has not fared well in terms of overseas box office collections. In the US and Australia, it has grossed around 56 million INR.[56][57]
The film's alleged negative depiction of rebels in the Sri Lankan civil war raised concerns.[14] After the release of the trailer, Tamil political partiesNaam Tamilar[58] besidesPattali Makkal Katchi[59] called for a ban on the film, citing that it depicts the members ofLiberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam as terrorists.Seeman stated the heart of the movie is anti-Tamil and Prabhakaran is portrayed as villainous, also remarking that they would stop screenings of the film after a special preview was arranged for pro-Tamil outfits.[60]MDMK party chiefVaiko sought a ban on the movie from the centre.[61]DMK party chiefM Karunanidhi asked the Tamil Nadu government to enquire if the film portrayed Sri Lankan Tamils in a poor light and if so, to take proper action.[62] Replying to the ban demands, John Abraham said while he respects the opinions of everyone, no one is above the Censor board and creativity should not be held at gun point.[63]MumbaiBJP president Ashish Shelar said "the film is an effort to glorify a particular political party and its leaders by demeaning [an]other sect of people. This cannot be permitted", and threatened to stall the release of the film in Mumbai.[64]
TheMadurai bench ofMadras High Court dismissed a petition to ban the film,[65] although it accepted a similar petition to ban the film in Tamil Nadu—to cancel the clearance certificate by theCentral Board of Film Certification (CBFC) and send notices to the director and producers of the film, Tamil NaduDirector General of Police, the chairman of the CBFC. The hearing was posted on 21 August.[66] The petition also claimed that Sri Lankan presidentMahinda Rajapaksa secretly financed the film to justify thehuman rights violations during the final stages of the war. Upon hearing the arguments, the court refused to grant an interim injunction to prevent the release of the Hindi version, while noting the Tamil version should not be released without the CBFC's clearance, which was later obtained.[49] It also issued notices to DGP, producer to give a detailed reply on charges by 3 September.[67] John Abraham has already refuted claims about Rajapaksa financing the film earlier during a promotional event.[68]
Following protests by theTamil diaspora in the United Kingdom and negative feedback alleging that the film promoted anti-Tamilprejudices, several theatres in the state chose not to screen the film.[69]
In September 2013, Abraham's role as a RAW agent won him the "Pride of the Nation" award, given by the Anti-Terrorist Front, for "his attempt to raise the sensitive issue of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's assassination".[70] The film was given Ramnath Goenka Memorial Award at 20thScreen Awards in January 2014. At the6th Mirchi Music Awards,Shantanu Moitra won Background Score of the Year award.[71]
| Date of ceremony | Awards | Category | Recipient(s) and nominee(s) | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 December 2013 | BIG Star Entertainment Awards | Most Entertaining Social Drama Film | John Abraham,Shoojit Sircar | Nominated | [72] |
| Most Entertaining Thriller Film | Nominated | ||||
| Most Entertaining Actor in a Social Drama Film – Male | John Abraham | Nominated | |||
| Most Entertaining Actor in a Thriller Film – Male | Nominated | ||||
| Most Entertaining Actor in a Social Drama Film – Female | Nargis Fakhri | Nominated | |||
| 14 January 2014 | Star Screen Awards | Ramnath Goenka Memorial Award | Madras Cafe | Won | [73] |
| Best Film | John Abraham,Shoojit Sircar | Nominated | |||
| Best Director | Shoojit Sircar | Won | |||
| Best Actor (Popular Choice) | John Abraham | Nominated | |||
| Best Actor in a Negative Role | Prakash Belawadi | Nominated | |||
| Best Cinematography | Kamaljeet Negi | Nominated | |||
| Best Action | Manohar Verma | Won | |||
| Best Editing | Chandrashekar Prajapati | Nominated | |||
| Best Production Design | Vinod Kumar | Nominated | |||
| Best Sound Design | Bishwadeep Chatterjee | Nominated | |||
| 16 January 2014 | Producers Guild Film Awards | Best Supporting Actress | Raashii Khanna | Nominated | [75] |
| Best Female Debut | Nominated | ||||
| Best Sound Mixing | Bishwadeep Chatterjee | Won | |||
| Best Editing | Chandrashekar Prajapati | Won | |||
| 24 January 2014 | Filmfare Awards | Best Cinematography | Kamaljit Negi | Won | [77] |
| Best Sound Design | Bishwadeep Chatterjee, Nihar Ranjan Samal | Won | |||
| 8 February 2014 | Zee Cine Awards | Best Screenplay | Shoojit Sircar | Nominated | [78] |
| Best Visual Effects | Madras Cafe | Nominated | |||
| Best Sound Design | Bishwadeep Chatterjee | Won | |||
| Best Editing | Chandrashekar Prajapati | Nominated | |||
| 27 February 2014 | Mirchi Music Awards | Background Score of the Year | Shantanu Moitra | Won | [80] |
| 3 May 2014 | National Film Awards | Best Audiography(Location Sound Recordist) | Nihar Ranjan Samal | Won | [81] |
| Best Audiography(Sound Designer) | Bishwadeep Chatterjee | Won |
| Madras Cafe | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by | ||||
| Released | 6 August 2013 | |||
| Recorded | 2013 Media Minds India. Pvt. Ltd Mumbai. | |||
| Genre | Feature film soundtrack | |||
| Language | Hindi | |||
| Label | T-Series | |||
| Producer | Shantanu Moitra | |||
| Shantanu Moitra chronology | ||||
| ||||
The film's soundtrack is composed byShantanu Moitra, and lyrics are written by Ali hayat, Zebunissa Bangash and Manoj Tapadia
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Singer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Sun Le Re" | Ali Hayat | Papon | 5:11 |
| 2. | "Ajnabi" | Bilal Sami | Zebunissa Bangash | 5:17 |
| 3. | "Khud Se" | Manoj Tapadia | Papon | 4:49 |
| 4. | "Sun Le Re (Reprise)" | Ali Hayat | Papon | 3:58 |
| 5. | "Madras Cafe Theme" | Instrumental | 4:04 | |
| 6. | "Conspiracy" | Instrumental | 3:07 | |
| 7. | "Entry to Jaffna" | Instrumental | 1:06 | |
| 8. | "Title Theme" | Instrumental | 3:16 | |
| Total length: | 30:46 | |||
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