''Madras Cafe'' is a 2013 Indian
Hindi
Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...
-language
political
Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...
action thriller film
Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include life ...
directed by
Shoojit Sircar
Shoojit Sircar (born ) is an Indian filmmaker, director and producer known for his work in Hindi films. He has received several awards, including two National Film Awards and a Filmfare Award from five nominations.
Sircar made his directoria ...
and starring
John Abraham
John Abraham (born 17 December 1972) is an Indian actor, film producer, writer and former model working in Hindi films. He has won a National Film Award and received five Filmfare nominations.
After modelling for advertisements and companies ...
,
Nargis Fakhri
Nargis Fakhri (born October 20, 1979) is an American actress and model who primarily works in the Indian Hindi-language films. Her first role in film came with the 2011 romantic drama ''Rockstar'', for which she was nominated for Filmfare Award ...
with newcomer
Raashi Khanna
Raashii Khanna (born 30 November 1990) is an Indian actress and playback singer who predominantly works in Telugu and Tamil film industries. She made her acting debut in a supporting role with the Hindi film ''Madras Cafe'' (2013) and subseq ...
in lead roles.
The film is set in the late 1980s and early 1990s, during the time of
Indian intervention in the
Sri Lankan civil war and
assassination
Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have ...
of Indian prime minister
Rajiv Gandhi
Rajiv Gandhi (; 20 August 1944 – 21 May 1991) was an Indian politician who served as the sixth prime minister of India from 1984 to 1989. He took office after the 1984 assassination of his mother, then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, to beco ...
. The film deals with an
Indian Army
The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four- ...
special officer who is appointed by the intelligence agency
R&AW
The Research and Analysis Wing (abbreviated R&AW; hi, ) is the foreign intelligence agency of India. The agency's primary function is gathering foreign intelligence, counter-terrorism, counter-proliferation, advising Indian policymakers, a ...
to head covert operations in
Jaffna
Jaffna (, ) is the capital city of the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. It is the administrative headquarters of the Jaffna District located on a peninsula of the same name. With a population of 88,138 in 2012, Jaffna is Sri Lanka's 12th most ...
shortly after
Indian peace-keeping force was forced to withdraw.
''Madras Cafe'' was released on 23 August 2013. Box Office India stated the film did above average business. The film won the
National Film Award for Best Audiography
The National Film Award for Best Audiography is one of the National Film Awards presented annually by the Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India. It is one of several awards pres ...
for ''Nihar Ranjan Samal'' (location sound recording) and ''Bishwadeep Chatterjee'' (sound design) at the
61st National Film Awards
The 61st National Film Awards ceremony was an event during which the Directorate of Film Festivals of India presented its annual National Film Awards to honour the best films of 2013 in the Indian cinema. The ceremony was held on 3 May 2014.
...
.
Background
As per John Abraham, "''Madras Cafe'' brings us closer to what changed the political history of India."
The film, set in India and Sri Lanka, is a political spy thriller with the backdrop of the
Sri Lankan Civil War.
[ Major Vikram Singh (John Abraham) is an ]Indian Army
The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four- ...
Special Forces officer who is appointed by the intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing
The Research and Analysis Wing (abbreviated R&AW; hi, ) is the foreign intelligence agency of India. The agency's primary function is gathering foreign intelligence, counter-terrorism, counter-proliferation, advising Indian policymakers, an ...
to head covert operations in Jaffna
Jaffna (, ) is the capital city of the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. It is the administrative headquarters of the Jaffna District located on a peninsula of the same name. With a population of 88,138 in 2012, Jaffna is Sri Lanka's 12th most ...
shortly after the Indian peace-keeping force was forced to withdraw. As he journeys to Sri Lanka with the intention of disrupting the LTTE militants, he becomes entangled military & politics. There he meets a British journalist Jaya Sahni (Nargis Fakhri) who wants to reveal the truth about the civil war, and in the process he uncovers a conspiracy to assassinate "a former Indian prime minister", through the use of plastic explosives. Although Vikram tries, at 10:10 pm, an LTTE suicide bomber kills the ex-PM while bowing down to put a garland on his neck.
Plot
The plot opens in Jaffna
Jaffna (, ) is the capital city of the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. It is the administrative headquarters of the Jaffna District located on a peninsula of the same name. With a population of 88,138 in 2012, Jaffna is Sri Lanka's 12th most ...
, where a bus full of passengers is stopped by armed men and all are massacred.
The film then moves to a bearded man in Kasauli, revealed to be Vikram Singh. He sees on TV that the Sri Lankan President has been killed by a suicide bomber. He purchases a bottle of liquor and goes to a nearby church. The priest of that church, who seems to have known him for the past three years, asks him about his "conspiracy" when he says, "Our Prime Minister could have been saved from the conspiracy". Vikram starts narrating his story to the priest.
The film then moves five years back, when the continuous battle between the majority Sri Lanka Sinhalese and minority Tamils had reached a dangerous level. The Tamil youth have taken weapons and joined the Liberation Tamil Front (LTF) leader Anna Bhaskaran (a character based on the real-life LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran
Velupillai Prabhakaran (; ta, வேலுப்பிள்ளை பிரபாகரன்; , (26 November 1954 – 18 May 2009) was a Sri Lankan Tamil guerrilla and the founder and leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) ...
). The Indian Prime Minister (Sanjay Gurubaxani) decides to sign a peace accord with Sri Lankan Government and said that the elections should happen there peacefully before Diwali. However, Anna refuses to accept the accord, and the Indian Peace Keeping Forces are forced to withdraw from the island. A heated meeting in New Delhi between the Indian officials leads Robin Dutt, aka RD, the R&AW chief, to call 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 and tries to find out a way to stop the rebels. 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. After meeting with an informer called Narayanan, Vikram manages to visit Shri. Vikram promises Shri to help him rise against Anna by providing him with arms. The arms deal date is decided at 6 July. 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. An angry Balakrishnan tells Vikram to go to Colombo Safehouse. Vikram meets Jaya to seek her help. Jaya tells him that they know his next step even before he can implement it. However, she tells him that "a foreign agency guy met with an Indian official" before her arrival on the island. The next day, Vasu, Balakrishnan's associate, meets a man and gives him a photo of Vikram, telling him "to keep him alive".
Meanwhile, RD and his team are shocked to learn on TV that Vikram is kidnapped by LTF. The Indian government sends forces and rescues Vikram, who is badly injured. 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 to him. Vikram, posing as a war correspondent, manages to reach Mallayya (based on real-life LTTE member Gopalaswamy Mahendraraja), second-in-command of Anna and persuades him to meet RD in Colombo. RD tells him that the only way this war could be won is by a political solution. He instigates Mallaya to stand up as the only champion of his people, thus dividing the LTF in two. Vikram and Indian forces then launch a massive attack on the LTF base camp where Anna and his men (minus Mallayya) were discussing strategy. A devastating gun battle begins, and Vikram returns home. 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. Balakrishnan finds about it and burns the remaining papers, later telling someone over the phone that SP and Vikram are in Kochi and he should send some men there. Vikram later 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's associate in Kochi
Kochi (), also known as Cochin ( ) ( the official name until 1996) is a major port city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of K ...
, Kush, tells him that Vasu has been tracked. He 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 along with a person named Reed from Singapore. Vikram calls Jaya and requests her to use her sources. She agrees to help and later consoles Vikram about his wife.
As told by Jaya, Vikram reaches Bangkok, where a source of Jaya (Dibang) tells him that he has a tape. Vikram is shocked to see that Balakrishnan was honey-trapped, forcing him to divulge all the information about their movements. Balakrishnan later commits suicide by shooting himself. Back in Delhi, R&AW had decoded the intercepts and had also found out about Balakrishnan's fake passports and unknown bank accounts. RD realizes that this might be a Code Red, to assassinate the ex-Prime Minister. He asks Vikram to take care of this and tells his team to seal the coastline. A massive manhunt begins, and hundreds of LTF associates are nabbed by Indian security forces and local cops. In the Madras R&AW office, Arjun, an officer, tracks down the conversation of Vijayan Joseph, a bombmaker, and Anna and tells this to Rishi (Tarun Bali). Rishi tells this to Vikram and further says 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 but important 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 from his hideout, who tells that the refugees are going to assassinate the ex-PM with plastic explosives, which are untraceable to metal detectors.
Vikram rushes to the place where the ex-PM is taking part in the rally. He reaches there nearly on time, 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 manages to recover but sits there dejected and defeated. Later, Vikram submits his report on the assassination to the investigation committee, who considers his report. 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 of "Where the mind is without fear
"Where the mind is without fear" ( bn, চিত্ত যেথা ভয়শূন্য, ''Chitto Jetha Bhoyshunno'') is a poem written by 1913 Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore before India's independence. It represents Tagore's vision of ...
". He completes another report and sends it to Jaya in London, who starts her work on that report; in Kasauli, Vikram moves out of the house he was living in.
An epilogue tells that the civil war continued for 27 years, killing more than 40 thousand Sri Lankan subjects, 30 thousand Tamil militants, 21 thousand Sri Lankan forces and 1200 Indian forces, and still thousands of Lankan Tamils are homeless. In 2009, Sri Lankan forces launched a brutal aerial and land attack, finishing the rebels along with their leader.
Cast
*John Abraham
John Abraham (born 17 December 1972) is an Indian actor, film producer, writer and former model working in Hindi films. He has won a National Film Award and received five Filmfare nominations.
After modelling for advertisements and companies ...
as Lieutenant Major Vikram Singh (Indian army officer appointed by the Research and Analysis Wing to carry out covert operations in Jaffna). Singh is fictitious, Sircar said he had "used real references, portrayed militant groups, revolutionary freedom fighters, Indian Peace Keeping Force
Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) was the Indian military contingent performing a peacekeeping operation in Sri Lanka between 1987 and 1990. It was formed under the mandate of the 1987 Indo-Sri Lankan Accord that aimed to end the Sri Lankan ...
s and shown how India got involved and the chaos". "I didn't want to make glitzy thriller like ''Ek Tha Tiger
''Ek Tha Tiger'' () is a 2012 Indian Hindi-language espionage action thriller film directed by Kabir Khan and co-written by Khan and Neelesh Misra, from a story by and produced by Aditya Chopra. It is the first installment in the ''Tiger'' fr ...
'' or '' Agent Vinod'', which seem inspired by the James Bond
The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...
template. I want to show that intelligence officers are ordinary people who live amongst us. It is only that they have to solve issues where national security is at stake," says Sircar. Sircar says he needed an actor who can easily get lost in the crowd, but with John Abraham, it seems next to impossible. "The role also requires a certain level of physicality and John Abraham has worked for the role. I agree this is a new territory for him but I think he has pitched it right. Let's see how the audiences take him."
* Nargis Fakhri
Nargis Fakhri (born October 20, 1979) is an American actress and model who primarily works in the Indian Hindi-language films. Her first role in film came with the 2011 romantic drama ''Rockstar'', for which she was nominated for Filmfare Award ...
as Jaya Sahni (a British war correspondent in Sri Lanka, inspired by many war correspondents, including Anita Pratap
Anita Pratap is an expatriate Indian writer and journalist. In 1983, she was the first journalist who interviewed LTTE chief V. Prabhakaran. She won the George Polk award for TV reporting for her television journalism related to the takeover of ...
) As for Fakhri, Sircar says her voice has not been dubbed. "Nargis Fakhri is playing a foreign war correspondent. I needed a girl who looks like an Indian journalist but has an accent so there is no chance that the audience will remember her ''Rockstar
Rock Star or Rockstar may refer to:
Films
* ''Rock Star'' (2001 film), an American film starring Mark Wahlberg
* ''Rockstar'' (2011 film), an Indian Hindi-language film by Imtiaz Ali
* ''Rockstar'' (2015 film), an Indian Malayalam-language fi ...
'' performance while watching ''Madras Café''. She will converse in English and she is familiar with the language," says Sircar.
* Raashi Khanna
Raashii Khanna (born 30 November 1990) is an Indian actress and playback singer who predominantly works in Telugu and Tamil film industries. She made her acting debut in a supporting role with the Hindi film ''Madras Cafe'' (2013) and subseq ...
as Ruby Singh, wife of Major Vikram Singh
* Siddhartha Basu
Siddhartha Basu is an Indian television producer-director and quiz show host, widely regarded as the "Father of Indian television quizzing".
He is best known for hosting shows such as '' Quiz Time'', '' Mastermind India'' and ''University Cha ...
as Robin Dutt (RD), chief of Research and Analysis Wing
The Research and Analysis Wing (abbreviated R&AW; hi, ) is the foreign intelligence agency of India. The agency's primary function is gathering foreign intelligence, counter-terrorism, counter-proliferation, advising Indian policymakers, an ...
. He is Major Singh's mentor and appoints him to take sole responsibility of executing the covert operations in Sri Lanka
* Ajay Rathnam
Ajay Rathnam is an Indian actor who has worked predominantly in Tamil language, Tamil films and serials. He is known for his supporting and negative roles and has acted in over 300 movies. Standing at 6 ft 4 in (193 cm), Rathnam is one of the t ...
as Anna Bhaskaran, the leader of the fictional LTF militant group. The character closely resembles the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; ta, தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகள், translit=Tamiḻīḻa viṭutalaip pulikaḷ, si, දෙමළ ඊළාම් විමුක්ති කොටි, t ...
leader Velupillai Prabhakaran
Velupillai Prabhakaran (; ta, வேலுப்பிள்ளை பிரபாகரன்; , (26 November 1954 – 18 May 2009) was a Sri Lankan Tamil guerrilla and the founder and leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) ...
. Bhaskaran is the given name of the character. 'Anna' meaning elder brother in Tamil language, is a honorific prefixed to the name of the character Bhaskaran.
* Prakash Belawadi
Prakash Belawadi is an Indian theatre artist, film director, television and media personality, who's also a teacher, activist and a journalist. He hails from Bangalore. He has participated in many seminars, conferences and festivals in India an ...
as Bala, Major Vikram Singh's superior in Jaffna. Due to his long stint in Sri Lanka, Bala is the only one who has first-hand information on the reality of the situation. As Major Singh arrives to execute his covert operation, Bala and his team help him to get access to locations and people who are crucial to making the operation successful. Bala was inspired by a real-life R&AW mole known as KV Unnikrishnan. KV Unnikrishnan, the agency's station chief in Chennai in 1987, was honey-trapped by the CIA. The US spy service threatened to reveal Unnikrishnan's compromising photographs with an air hostess to force him to co-operate.
* Avijit Dutt
Avijit Dutt is an Indian filmmaker, actor, theater director and communications consultant. Living and working out of New Delhi. He has done his masters from Calcutta University in English Literature and began his career at an English Faculty in ...
as Swaroop, RD's deputy in R&AW.
* Tinu Menachery as a Tamil rebel
* Agnello Dias as a Sri Lankan minister
*Dinesh Prabhakar
Dinesh Prabhakar, also known by his birth name Dinesh Nair, is an Indian actor who predominantly appears in Malayalam films.
Early life
Dinesh was born as the second child of Prabhakaran Nair and Sarojini Amma at Pulluvazhi, Perumbavoor, Ern ...
as Rajasekharan, LTF member
*Sanjay Gurbaxani as Former Prime Minister of India
* Piyush Pandey
Piyush Pandey is an advertising professional and the Chief Creative Officer Worldwide (2019) and Executive Chairman India of Ogilvy (agency). He is the recipient of the Padma Shri award (2016). Pandey is also credited with shaping a distinct ind ...
as the Cabinet Secretary of India
* Dibang as a former intelligence officer
* Leena Maria Paul as a RAW Decoder
Production and development
“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. John Abraham said that director Shoojit Sircar narrated the script of ''Madras 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 behind ''Madras Cafe''," he said.
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."
Title
The film was initially titled ''Jaffna
Jaffna (, ) is the capital city of the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. It is the administrative headquarters of the Jaffna District located on a peninsula of the same name. With a population of 88,138 in 2012, Jaffna is Sri Lanka's 12th most ...
'' after the northern Sri Lankan city. It was renamed ''Madras Cafe'', as the plot to kill Gandhi was hatched at the café. The original location of the café is not specified in the film.
Casting
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. Commenting on remarks comparing his look to Tom Hanks
Thomas Jeffrey Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is an American actor and filmmaker. Known for both his comedic and dramatic roles, he is one of the most popular and recognizable film stars worldwide, and is regarded as an American cultural icon. Ha ...
in ''Cast Away
''Cast Away'' is a 2000 American survival drama film directed and produced by Robert Zemeckis and starring Tom Hanks, Helen Hunt, and Nick Searcy. Hanks plays a FedEx troubleshooter stranded on an uninhabited island after his plane crashes in ...
'', 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."
American model-turned-actress Nargis Fakhri
Nargis Fakhri (born October 20, 1979) is an American actress and model who primarily works in the Indian Hindi-language films. Her first role in film came with the 2011 romantic drama ''Rockstar'', for which she was nominated for Filmfare Award ...
was cast to play Jaya Sahni, a British journalist in Jaffna. For the role of the foreign war correspondent, Fakhri was chosen because the director required "a girl who looked Indian but had an nglishaccent". Thus this was the first film where her voice was not dubbed.[ Initially, American-based actress ]Freida Pinto
Freida Selena Pinto (born 18 October 1984) is an Indian actress who has appeared mainly in American and British films. Born and raised in Mumbai, Maharashtra, she resolved at a young age to become an actress. As a student at St. Xavier's Colle ...
was chosen to portray Jaya Sahni, but due to prior commitments she withdrew from the project.
Shoojit Sircar contacted model Sheetal Mallar
Sheetal Mallar (born 23 April 1974) is an Indian fashion model from Mumbai. She is now also a contemporary Indian photographer. See her official website here. She won the Femina Look of the Year and the Elite Look of the Year in 1994.
Early li ...
for the film, but as things did not work out, newcomer Rashi Khanna was signed for the role, marking her debut. The cast also included a number of non-professional actors, such as quiz master Siddharth Basu
Siddhartha Basu is an Indian television producer-director and quiz show host, widely regarded as the "Father of Indian television quizzing".
He is best known for hosting shows such as ''Quiz Time'', ''Mastermind India'' and ''University Chall ...
, filmmaker Prakash Belawadi
Prakash Belawadi is an Indian theatre artist, film director, television and media personality, who's also a teacher, activist and a journalist. He hails from Bangalore. He has participated in many seminars, conferences and festivals in India an ...
and journalist Dibang.
Location and sets
''Madras Cafe'' was shot in Malaysia
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
, Thailand
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...
, London and India. The Sri Lankan scenes of the film were shot in India, where the city of Jaffna
Jaffna (, ) is the capital city of the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. It is the administrative headquarters of the Jaffna District located on a peninsula of the same name. With a population of 88,138 in 2012, Jaffna is Sri Lanka's 12th most ...
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 in Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...
and Kerala
Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...
and converted it into a war zone. The second part of the film is based in India, which is the politics part," said Sircar. The first schedule of the film was shot extensively in southern India. The second schedule was shot in Mumbai
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
, outside India and in and around south India. Several civil war scenes were shot in Bangkok
Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estima ...
as light machine gun
A light machine gun (LMG) is a light-weight machine gun designed to be operated by a single infantryman, with or without an assistant, as an infantry support weapon. LMGs firing cartridges of the same caliber as the other riflemen of the sam ...
fire was not permitted in India. Real AK-47
The AK-47, officially known as the ''Avtomat Kalashnikova'' (; also known as the Kalashnikov or just AK), is a gas operated, gas-operated assault rifle that is chambered for the 7.62×39mm cartridge. Developed in the Soviet Union by Russian s ...
s, 9mm Berettas and M60s were used, for which special permission was obtained from the local authorities.
The trailer was released on 12 July 2013. The film was also dubbed in Tamil
Tamil may refer to:
* Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia
**Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils
**Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia
* Tamil language, nativ ...
.
Release
The film was released on 23 August in India, the United States and United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...
. However, it was not released in the United Kingdom and Canada as planned owing to the protests by Tamil diaspora
The Tamil diaspora refers to descendants of the Tamil people, Tamil Emigration, immigrants who emigrated from their native lands (Tamil Nadu, Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry and Sri Lanka) to other parts of the world. They are found pri ...
in regards to its depiction of the Tamil militants, nor in Tamil Nadu where exhibitors feared its release was not worth the risk in regards to the controversy.
Critical reception
The film was critically acclaimed. ''The Times of India
''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest ...
'' 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." Reviewing for the ''Hindustan Times
''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media, an entity controlled by the KK Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia.
It was founded by Sunder Singh Lyall ...
'', Anupama Chopra
Anupama Chopra () is an Indian author, journalist, film critic and director of the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival. She is also the founder and editor of the digital platform Film Companion, which offers a curated look at cinema. She has written sev ...
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." ''The Hindu
''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...
'' 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 what '' Agent Vinod'' also hinted at, but Sriram Raghavan
Sriram Raghavan (born 22 June 1963) is an Indian film director and screenwriter who works in Hindi cinema. He is primarily considered an auteur of neo-noir action thrillers.
Raghavan made his directorial debut with '' Ek Hasina Thi'' (2004). H ...
got carried away with the demands of the box office. Sircar chooses to keep it closer to reality." Baradwaj Rangan later wrote in ''The 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 in Madhur Bhandarkar
Madhur Bhandarkar (born 26 August 1968) is an Indian film director, script writer, and producer. In 2016,Bhandarkar was honoured with the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian honour, by the Government of India.
The drama film ''Chandni Ba ...
and Prakash Jha
Prakash Jha (born 27 February 1952) is an Indian film producer, actor, director and screenwriter, mostly known for his political and socio-political films such as “Hip Hip Hurray” (1984), ''Damul'' (1984), ''Mrityudand'' (1997), ''Gangaaja ...
films, but someone who has to decide between naming a source (and going against the ethics of her profession) and aiding an investigation."
Rajeev Masand
Rajeev Masand is an Indian film critic and journalist. He has worked for Noida based English language news channel CNN-Indian Broadcasting Network (CNN-IBN). He usually reviews Bollywood films and major Hollywood films released in India in hi ...
of CNN-IBN
CNN-News18 (originally CNN-IBN) is an Indian English-language news television channel founded by Raghav Bahl based in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India. It is currently co-owned by Network18 Group and Warner Bros. Discovery. CNN provides internationa ...
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 with ''Madras Café''."
The Pakistani newspaper ''Dawn
Dawn is the time that marks the beginning of twilight before sunrise. It is recognized by the appearance of indirect sunlight being scattered in Earth's atmosphere, when the centre of the Sun's disc has reached 18° below the observer's horizo ...
'' 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."
Sircar garnered rave reviews for his story and direction. "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't Sri Lankan Tamil
Sri Lankan Tamils ( or ), also known as Ceylon Tamils or Eelam Tamils, are Tamils native to the South Asian island state of Sri Lanka. Today, they constitute a majority in the Northern Province, live in significant numbers in the Eastern Pr ...
but the language you hear on the streets of Chennai – an odd gaffe for a film filled with so much research."
Box office
''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 of ''Satyagraha
Satyagraha ( sa, सत्याग्रह; ''satya'': "truth", ''āgraha'': "insistence" or "holding firmly to"), or "holding firmly to truth",' or "truth force", is a particular form of nonviolent resistance or civil resistance. Someone w ...
''. However, the film still fetched in its second week, taking the grand total to .
''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.[Boxofficeindia.com](_blank)
Box Office India. Retrieved 29 August 2013.
Awards and nominations
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". The film was given Ramnath Goenka Memorial Award at 20th Screen Awards
The Screen Awards is an annual awards ceremony held in India honouring professional excellence in Bollywood. The nomination and award selection is done by a panel of distinguished professionals from the industry. The awards were introduced by t ...
in January 2014. At the 6th Mirchi Music Awards
The 6th Mirchi Music Awards, presented by the Radio Mirchi, honoured the best of Hindi music from the year 2013. The ceremony was held on 27 February 2014 and was hosted by Sonu Nigam. There were many performances, including those by Sunidhi Chau ...
, Shantanu Moitra
Shantanu Moitra (born 22 January 1968) is an Indian score composer, musician and pianist who has composed songs for the Hindi film industry, and is most known for his scores in the films '' Parineeta'' (2005), ''Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi'' (200 ...
won Background Score of the Year award.
Soundtrack
The film's soundtrack is composed by Shantanu Moitra
Shantanu Moitra (born 22 January 1968) is an Indian score composer, musician and pianist who has composed songs for the Hindi film industry, and is most known for his scores in the films '' Parineeta'' (2005), ''Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi'' (200 ...
, and lyrics are written by Ali hayat, Zebunissa Bangash and Manoj Tapadia
Controversy
The film's alleged negative depiction of rebels in the Sri Lankan civil war raised concerns. After the release of the trailer, Tamil political parties Naam Tamilar besides Pattali Makkal Katchi
Paattali Makkal Katchi (; PMK) is a political party in Tamil Nadu, India, founded by S. Ramadoss in 1989 for the Vanniyars, a caste in northern Tamil Nadu. It is currently part of the BJP led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). It contests th ...
called for a ban on the film, citing that it depicts the members of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; ta, தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகள், translit=Tamiḻīḻa viṭutalaip pulikaḷ, si, දෙමළ ඊළාම් විමුක්ති කොටි, t ...
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. MDMK
The Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam ( 'Renaissance Dravidian Progressive Federation') is a political party active in the Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. It was established by Vaiko in 1994 after he left the Dravida Munnetra ...
party chief Vaiko
Vaiyapuri Gopalsamy, better known as Vaiko, is an Indian politician. He is a member of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Parliament of India from Tamil Nadu. He is the founder and General Secretary of the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra ...
sought a ban on the movie from the centre. DMK party chief M Karunanidhi
Muthuvel Karunanidhi (3 June 1924 – 7 August 2018) was an Indian writer and politician who served as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for almost two decades over five terms between 1969 and 2011. He was popularly referred to as Kalaignar (Art ...
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. 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. Mumbai
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
BJP
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...
president Ashish Shelar said "the film is an effort to glorify a particular political party and its leaders by demeaning nther sect of people. This cannot be permitted", and threatened to stall the release of the film in Mumbai.
The Madurai
Madurai ( , also , ) is a major city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the cultural capital of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Madurai District. As of the 2011 census, it was the third largest Urban agglomeration in ...
bench of Madras High Court
The Madras High Court is a High Court in India. It has appellate jurisdiction over the state of Tamil Nadu and the union territory of Puducherry. It is located in Chennai, and is the third oldest high court of India after the Calcutta High C ...
dismissed a petition to ban the film, although it accepted a similar petition to ban the film in Tamil Nadu—to cancel the clearance certificate by the Central Board of Film Certification
The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) is a statutory film-certification body in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of the Government of India. It is tasked with "regulating the public exhibition of films under the provision ...
(CBFC) and send notices to the director and producers of the film, Tamil Nadu Director General of Police
Director general of police (DGP) is a rank in the Indian Police Service, held by the highest ranking police officer in a State or a Union Territory of India, typically heading the state or the UT police force. The DGP is appointed by the cabin ...
, the chairman of the CBFC. The hearing was posted on 21 August. The petition also claimed that Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa
Mahinda Rajapaksa ( si, මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ, ta, மஹிந்த ராஜபக்ஷ; born Percy Mahendra Rajapaksa; 18 November 1945) is a Sri Lankan politician. He served as the President of Sri Lanka from 2005 to ...
secretly financed the film to justify the human rights violations
Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hum ...
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. It also issued notices to DGP, producer to give a detailed reply on charges by 3 September. John Abraham has already refuted claims about Rajapaksa financing the film earlier during a promotional event.
Following protests by the Tamil diaspora
The Tamil diaspora refers to descendants of the Tamil people, Tamil Emigration, immigrants who emigrated from their native lands (Tamil Nadu, Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry and Sri Lanka) to other parts of the world. They are found pri ...
in the United Kingdom and negative feedback alleging that the film promoted anti-Tamil
Tamil may refer to:
* Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia
**Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils
**Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia
* Tamil language, nativ ...
prejudice
Prejudice can be an affective feeling towards a person based on their perceived group membership. The word is often used to refer to a preconceived (usually unfavourable) evaluation or classification of another person based on that person's per ...
s, several theatres in the state chose not to screen the film.
See also
* Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi
The assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, former Prime Minister of India, occurred as a result of a suicide bombing in Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu, India on 21 May 1991. At least 14 others, in addition to Rajiv Gandhi, were killed. It was carrie ...
* 2009 Tamil diaspora protests
* ''Kuttrapathirikai
''Kuttrapathirikai'' () is a 2007 Indian Tamil-language film directed by R. K. Selvamani. The film stars Ramki, Rahman, Ramya Krishnan and Roja. The film was produced by Ravi Yadav's Yadavalaya Films, had music scored by Ilaiyaraaja and has ...
''
* '' The Terrorist''
* ''Kannathil Muthamittal
''Kannathil Muthamittal'' (also released internationally under the translated title ''A Peck on the Cheek'') is a 2002 Indian Tamil-language musical war film produced and directed by Mani Ratnam. It was based on a short story, "Amuthavum Avanum" ...
''
References
External links
Official website
*
{{Shoojit Sircar
2013 action drama films
2010s action war films
2013 action thriller films
2010s political thriller films
2010s spy thriller films
Films about journalists
Films about security and surveillance
Films about terrorism in India
Films shot in Malaysia
Films set in the 1990s
Films shot in Delhi
2010s Hindi-language films
Films scored by Shantanu Moitra
Indian political thriller films
Indian spy thriller films
Indian action war films
Indian action thriller films
Indian action drama films
Indian war drama films
2013 war drama films
2013 films
Films set in Sri Lanka
Works about the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi
Films directed by Shoojit Sircar
Films about the Research and Analysis Wing
Films that won the Best Audiography National Film Award
Viacom18 Studios films
Cultural depictions of Rajiv Gandhi
Indian Peace Keeping Force