Bollywood Preview - Direct Dil Se: Madras Cafe

Casts: John Abraham, Nargis Fakhri, Rashi Khanna.

Banner: J.a. Entertainment, Viacom 18 Motion Pictures, Rising Sun Films Production

Director: Shoojit Sircar

Producer: John Abraham, Ronnie Lahiri

Screenplay: Somnath Dey and Shubendu Bhattacharya

Music: Shantanu Moitra

Release Date: 23rd August 2013

Story line: “Madras Café” is a serious political-thriller. This movie with an interesting name rotates around the tale of an Indian intelligence agent and an international reporter. It also centers on the topics like terrorism, which has largely prevailed in Indian society.

An Indian Intelligence agent (portrayed by John Abraham) journeys into a war torn coastal island, to break a resolute rebel group. He deftly maneuvers his resources to make significant breakthroughs, amidst a scenario where the enemy has no face and the only counsel is 'Don't get caught.' At various junctions, he meets a charismatic and passionate journalist (portrayed by Nargis Fakhri) who is following her will to reflect the truth behind the civil war. The story unfolds as their quest for the truth reveals a deeper conspiracy, by a faceless enemy, united to seize a common nemesisAs 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 set against backdrop of the Sri Lankan civil war. Vikram Singh (John Abraham) is an Indian Army special officer who is appointed by the intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing to conduct covert operations in Sri Lanka shortly after Indian Peace Keeping Force was forced to withdraw. As he journeys to Sri Lanka, with the intention of disrupting a rebel group, he discovers the larger issue. There he meets a British journalist (Jaya) who wants to reveal the truth about the civil war, and in the process he uncovers a conspiracy.

Know more about the captain of the Ship, the director: Shoojit Sircar is an Indian film director and producer. He directed films like Yahaan (2005) and Vicky Donor (2012) and produced Aparajita Tumi (2012). He won the Indian Competition Special Jury Award at Osian's Cinefan Festival of Asian and Arab Cinema in 2005 for Yahaan. He is now making a documentary film on Amitabh Bachchan. He is associated with Rising Sun Films and has made television commercials of Saffola, Reliance 2G, Apsara Pencils, Fair & Lovely, Maruti WagonR, Cadbury, Dove and many other brands.

He is known for making independent films. Aparajita Tumi is actually an adapted screenplay from Sunil Gangopadhyay's Dui Naari Haathey Torobaari. His 2012 film Vicky Donor was grand box office success, earning 13.40 crore INR in the opening weekend. His new film is Shoe bite which will be released soon.

Facts And Figures:

• Budget of Madras Café is approx. Rs 35 crore and the duration of the film is 2 hours 10 minutes.

• Nargis Fakhri - Jaya (a British war correspondent in Sri Lanka (inspired by many war correspondents, including Anita Pratap). As for Nargis, Sircar says her voice hasn’t been dubbed

• The film was entirely shot in India, where the city of Jaffna 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 and Kerala and converted it into a war zone. The second part of the film is based in India, which is the politics part."

• The film's alleged depiction of rebels in the Sri Lankan civil war raised concerns among India’s large Tamil population. Tamil outfit Naam Tamilar asked for a ban on the movie citing that it reflects the members of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam as terrorists. A still of actor Ajay Ratnam bearing close resemblance to Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam leader Velupillai Prabhakaran also provoked controversies.

• A petition seeking to ban the release of "Madras Cafe" was filed in the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court in Chennai on August 14, 2013

My “Gut Feel” and preview:

My first reaction after seeing the promos and evaluating the resourceful team associated with this movie, is that it is an honest effort and sensible film depicting sensitive story with some realistic performances from lead characters.

I am a great admirer of John Abraham, the lead actor and one of the producers of this movie. He has been persistent and has crafted a niche in Hindi film industry with his dedication and hard work.

On the other hand Shoojit Sircar the director of the movie also comes with bag full of promising work in the past. I am expecting the same magic being spelled again this time which appears to have resulted in a good sensible film. The promos do not seem to baffle the audience and claims to be a documentary; however it must be a hard hitting commercial Cinema dealing with a sensitive political drama based screenplay.

With expectation of levelheaded storyline and performances I would give this movie 3.5 out of 5 stars, five days before the release.