Verdict: ****

India is a country where, not only actual gods but the people are also worshipped. Ergo it becomes difficult to make a real life incident into a motion picture drama. Bearing all the possibilities of protests and controversies, Madras Café shows another angle to the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi.

Films opens with John Abraham in Kasuali spending his days alone and drunken. There, he visits a church and tells a tale to Father out of redemption. This confession is about how the assassination of Ex-Prime Minister could have been stopped. Rest of the film is in flashback showing the period of India and Sri Lanka’s dreaded history of civil war from 1980 to the assassination day.

Civil war between Tamilians and Sinhalis-Locals of Sri Lanka-is on peak and Indian Prime Minister is trying to intervene and make peace. But each sector involved in the war has its own reason not to stop war. Vikram Singh (John Abraham), R&AW officer is deployed in Jaffna, Sri Lanka to undertake covert operation in an attempt to restore the balance and make elections happen peacefully.War prone Tamilians are encapsulated under one militant group named LTF lead by Anna Bhaskaran (Ajay Rathnam).

Madras Café is the films that pictures behind the curtain politics of governments. How people containing high power manipulate lives of common citizens is shown in this film. We get to see the high level politics which contain no boundaries of countries or even continents. An assassination is not only man killing another man but it includes benefits to a lot of people who may or may not be directly linked to either of the man.

Though stated as a work of fiction, Madras Café never tries to hide the fact that it is based on actual events. Director Shoojit Sircar has this kink for war films that was shown in Yahaan. But this time, he excels himself and presents you what can be termed as the best espionage film in Hindi Film Industry till date. He captures most of the elements to the related events and rest is done by brilliant acting of perfect cast.

John Abraham never loses his temperament of a responsible officer. Siddharth Basu as RD (Superior R&AW), Nargis Fakhri as Jaya Sahni (British War Correspondent) and Rashi Khanna as Ruby (Vikram’s Wife) shine in their respective role. Prakash Belwadi as Bala gives a solid performance. Cinematographer Kamaljeet Negi deserves a huge applause and so does Music Composer Shantanu Moitra. Work did by these two have made this film reach another level. Production value is high and nothing is compromised for the sake of budget.

Film contains some clichés but for these brilliant efforts, few flaws are permissible.  All together, this film is must see. It is not for fun loving audience. It is serious and this film deserves to be taken seriously.

 Madras Cafe Movie Nashik Times table

Cinemax Nasik Road,Nashik
‎10:15am‎ ‎10:00pm‎
Fame Cinemas,pune road annapurna highway, Nashik
‎9:00am‎ ‎5:10‎ ‎10:40pm‎
Cinemax College Road,big bazaar building, near vitthal mandir, college road, Nashik
‎9:15am‎ ‎12:00‎ ‎2:45‎ ‎5:30‎ ‎11:15pm‎
Cinemax City Centre Mall,city centre mall, untwadi road, Nashik
‎10:45am‎ ‎1:30‎ ‎4:15‎ ‎7:00‎ ‎10:00pm‎
Big Cinemas Divya,purab paschim plaza,trimurti chowk, opp post office, cidco, Nashik
‎11:30am‎ ‎2:15‎ ‎10:30pm‎