Directed by : Shoojit Sircar
Imdb link -> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2855648/
Superbly shot and edited political thriller, with few weak points
Read at your own risk, the post is full of spoilers...
You direct very well, edit very well, shoot it very well... but you make mistakes in the way you narrate it out to the audience and there you mess it up. Madras Cafe works for me so much, yet the fact that Vikram (John Abrahim) narrates the story to a father from the start doesn't gel with me at all.
For people like me (I am sure there will be), who didn't knew a thing about Rajiv Gandhi's assassination, I just didn't want to know in the first conversation scene itself that Vikram failed to save his life. I know most of our films have happy endings, this one doesn't have it.. so that could be one reason why director wanted to take confidence of audience that what the film will be heading to. And other reason would ofcourse be, that he expected most of the audience to know how Rajiv Gandhi was killed and the film will not try to develop thrilling moments for that.
But my question is, if they started the story right from the developments of Tamil Sri Lankans and LTF, with voiceover of John (not narrating to the father, but to the audience), and then taken it to the right end. Then, there was a chance of that feeling coming 'kya pata bach jaaye', who knows director opted for new ending, who knows its not totally realistic depiction. That suspense factor director missed out.
Plus, the final beautiful lines of Rabindranath Tagore looked awkward the way they were shown. Instead of it, should had kept visuals with silent background score, and the lines said over it.. it would had made it look much better.
Despite all the mentioned problems I had with the film, what I loved was Shoojit's direction, and the editing. The editing was so tight, and it didn't allow you to remain with a latest proceeding, immediately shifting to next one. That made 1st half to certain extent confusing, which is commendable work. The fast cuts allowed the thrill element sneak in at various parts, be in 1st half or the finale of 2nd half. Good background score used too, be it the south song (I dont know which it was) used when Vikram goes to Jaffna for 1st time, or that theme which is used frequently when something big is about to happen. I like how they showed the assassination day too, the whole effect of pre-blast, and post-blast was superb. And I am saying that when I knew (or was allowed to know) that he will die now.
The conversations between Jaya (Nargis Fakhri) and anyone else she talks with in entire film, appeared very wierd, for the simple reason that she talks in english and other person replies in hindi. What Shoojit should had done is kept the entire conversation in English or let Nargis speak few words in hindi. He tried to keep it very realistic and not compromise on using dub for her, but this way he made those scenes look slightly awkward to say the least.
The tension built right from the moment the flashback begins till the assassination day had no scope of a song at all. So, its good to see Shoojit didn't bow down to the demand of entertainment seeking audience forcing song into narrative.
Regarding how accurate the facts are in the movie, I would say Shoojit has fictionalised it in various ways. Most facts are right, and some aren't shown probably citing the risk of film not getting released. Therefore blaming the director or writer for not including various portions associated with the event would be bad. In any case, its not a Rajiv Gandhi biopic, it just involves his character, and that main day when his assassination happened, thats about it.
Among Performances, John Abrahim does pretty well in the main plot where he plays the officer. Only place he looks out of sort is the scenes with father in church. Nargis Fakhri did fair work, leaving asides the hindi dialogue problem. Her expressions and body language playing the reporter was bang on.
The supporting cast was very new, and it kind of reminded me of Kahaani. New cast and so effective as well as powerful performances. Prakash Belawadi and Siddhartha Basu were the pick of them, probably the reason their close up shots look so good too. Would love to see more of them in future films.
Overall, Madras Cafe is a very good political thriller.. it does have its lows but doesn't effect the main impact of the plot. Plus, some good performances from the starcast. It had in it to be India's Argo as John said once in interview, but I would say it missed out on that by some margin.
Verdict : VERY GOOD
P.S : If you are going to watch this film for entertainment value, please stay away and watch the stupid Chennai Express once again instead. Madras Cafe is only for quality and intelligent movie lovers.
Imdb link -> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2855648/
Superbly shot and edited political thriller, with few weak points
Read at your own risk, the post is full of spoilers...
You direct very well, edit very well, shoot it very well... but you make mistakes in the way you narrate it out to the audience and there you mess it up. Madras Cafe works for me so much, yet the fact that Vikram (John Abrahim) narrates the story to a father from the start doesn't gel with me at all.
For people like me (I am sure there will be), who didn't knew a thing about Rajiv Gandhi's assassination, I just didn't want to know in the first conversation scene itself that Vikram failed to save his life. I know most of our films have happy endings, this one doesn't have it.. so that could be one reason why director wanted to take confidence of audience that what the film will be heading to. And other reason would ofcourse be, that he expected most of the audience to know how Rajiv Gandhi was killed and the film will not try to develop thrilling moments for that.
But my question is, if they started the story right from the developments of Tamil Sri Lankans and LTF, with voiceover of John (not narrating to the father, but to the audience), and then taken it to the right end. Then, there was a chance of that feeling coming 'kya pata bach jaaye', who knows director opted for new ending, who knows its not totally realistic depiction. That suspense factor director missed out.
Plus, the final beautiful lines of Rabindranath Tagore looked awkward the way they were shown. Instead of it, should had kept visuals with silent background score, and the lines said over it.. it would had made it look much better.
Despite all the mentioned problems I had with the film, what I loved was Shoojit's direction, and the editing. The editing was so tight, and it didn't allow you to remain with a latest proceeding, immediately shifting to next one. That made 1st half to certain extent confusing, which is commendable work. The fast cuts allowed the thrill element sneak in at various parts, be in 1st half or the finale of 2nd half. Good background score used too, be it the south song (I dont know which it was) used when Vikram goes to Jaffna for 1st time, or that theme which is used frequently when something big is about to happen. I like how they showed the assassination day too, the whole effect of pre-blast, and post-blast was superb. And I am saying that when I knew (or was allowed to know) that he will die now.
The conversations between Jaya (Nargis Fakhri) and anyone else she talks with in entire film, appeared very wierd, for the simple reason that she talks in english and other person replies in hindi. What Shoojit should had done is kept the entire conversation in English or let Nargis speak few words in hindi. He tried to keep it very realistic and not compromise on using dub for her, but this way he made those scenes look slightly awkward to say the least.
The tension built right from the moment the flashback begins till the assassination day had no scope of a song at all. So, its good to see Shoojit didn't bow down to the demand of entertainment seeking audience forcing song into narrative.
Regarding how accurate the facts are in the movie, I would say Shoojit has fictionalised it in various ways. Most facts are right, and some aren't shown probably citing the risk of film not getting released. Therefore blaming the director or writer for not including various portions associated with the event would be bad. In any case, its not a Rajiv Gandhi biopic, it just involves his character, and that main day when his assassination happened, thats about it.
Among Performances, John Abrahim does pretty well in the main plot where he plays the officer. Only place he looks out of sort is the scenes with father in church. Nargis Fakhri did fair work, leaving asides the hindi dialogue problem. Her expressions and body language playing the reporter was bang on.
The supporting cast was very new, and it kind of reminded me of Kahaani. New cast and so effective as well as powerful performances. Prakash Belawadi and Siddhartha Basu were the pick of them, probably the reason their close up shots look so good too. Would love to see more of them in future films.
Overall, Madras Cafe is a very good political thriller.. it does have its lows but doesn't effect the main impact of the plot. Plus, some good performances from the starcast. It had in it to be India's Argo as John said once in interview, but I would say it missed out on that by some margin.
Verdict : VERY GOOD
P.S : If you are going to watch this film for entertainment value, please stay away and watch the stupid Chennai Express once again instead. Madras Cafe is only for quality and intelligent movie lovers.
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