Friday, 30 August 2013
Film Review | Madras Cafe...
Critic's Rating: **** 4/5 (Must Watch)
Saral Joshi © 2013 All Rights Reserved.
Cast: John Abraham, Nargis Fakhri, Rashi Khanna, Siddharth Basu, Ajay Rathnam
Direction: Shoojit Sircar
Genre: Thriller
Duration: 2 hours 10 minutes
Script Analysis
Recreated out of real life instances, Sircar doesn’t cheat us at any
level. His story is a dramatized version of realities, with the
parallels so apparent that they aren’t very difficult to decipher. There
are no false jingoistic traps laid or judgment calls commanded. Luckily
for the good of its audiences, the film invokes a strong sense of
realism largely as the director doesn’t waste time in creating any
ornate sham of filmi-ness. The script itself gives very few problems to
hang around as it envelopes a rather clear cut story which is a
coalescence of history and drama which is a quasi fictional account of
India-Lanka Peace Accord which culminates into the death of Rajiv Gandhi.
Writers Somnath Dey and Subhendu Bhattacharya dynamically build a
piquant movie which has a stirring premise. Folding in well the
background of ethnic strife in Sri Lanka, the film carefully holds its
ground with an antagonist whose motives are beyond power. The film’s
forte is how it tells such a volatile story with utmost sensitivity
without taking sides. It is pro human and definitely not anti any group,
culture or leader.
The unlikely twists and pauses mounts consistently the right aura and
mood of the film. Keeping it somber and dull, the film’s pace is
rightly packed with thrills. In no part of the film is there a single
dull moment which sags or falls loose. It has no allegations or
derogatory remarks but a simplistic narration of the course of events.
The film’s trajectories don’t foster any shade of righteousness and
strictly refrains from evoking any wrong sentiment.
The drama doesn’t take fancy to over the top melodrama thankfully; its pace doesn’t slacken or the momentum of its happenings doesn’t veer away. Our hero is a faltering human who
fails to end up saving his wife or the life of the Prime Minister who
is slayed eventually. It is this realistic approach that popular cinema
misses and Shoojit Sircar, along with his writers, whose toiling at
assembling the film’s skeletal groundwork shows in terms of the film’s
clarity, have put up a bravura show!
Stars Performances
John Abraham as Vikram Singh topples all his previous performances.
He isn’t a very flattering actor but his clever choice of role and
wicked acting surely shows a remarkable improvement. He isn’t the John
who couldn’t emote. He is the John who isn’t afraid to take up
challenging roles and carry them out gracefully.
Nargis Fakhri with her British accent is confident. She may not be a
show stealer but does her bit with élan retaining the correct persona
for it.
Siddhartha Basu is quite a natural as he smoothly slips in the role
of R.D. His intelligence shows in his eyes, and he manages to command
respect in his character! Never stepping a wrong stone, the man should
have taken up acting long back!
The supporting actors are all impressive but in the end, this film is more about its intent and plot than about its actors!
Direction, Editing and Music
Shoojit Sircar is back after a long hiatus since Vicky Donor.
He strings into the same plot, the emotional wreckage and physical
devastation of war to emphatically put forth the futility of it all. In
the climax, Shoojit concludes with, “One man’s revolutionary is another
one’s villain!” followed by a few stellar lines of Tagore! Truly, in the
clashes of mindsets the only people who suffer are commoners who seek
only peace and happiness from their lives.
As Lankan leader Anna strives to garner power and Indian Government
attempts to achieve their political motive of maintaining monopoly in
the subcontinent by maintaining friendly relations with Lanka to obtain
access into the South East Asia, Sircar wonderfully relates the story of
anarchy, bloodshed and meaningless war which continued for 27 long
years killing thousands.
In the end, he does squeeze out a potent
message about the nugatory nightmare of the wrath of war! Shoojit
intelligently executes a crisply written story which is executed
breathtakingly. The editing of the film is quite well done, as the
docu-drama style doesn’t stir up any boredom. Shantanu Moitra’s music is
pristine and haunting as the climax wraps up with Papon crooning Maula Re.
An engrossing monologue which excavates one of India’s most overbearing conspiracies left back in the dusty pages of history.
There is no commercialism, which has been smartly avoided so as to not dilute
the subject matter. Music, background score has been kept limited to
create any unwanted flavor to the drama than the story already contains.
They are not really negatives just slightly deterring for the general
public.
Only word
Madras Café is a hypnotically created masterpiece which thrives
in the freshness of its conception. Using history with drama to build a
persuasive tapestry of enthralling action, energetic plot and skillful
narration of the grim phase of Lankan War, Shoojit Sircar astonishes
with this fascinating docu style dramatic movie. I am going flatly with a
4/5 this triumphed work of passionate and compelling cinema.
Saral Joshi © 2013 All Rights Reserved.
