Madras Cafe - Exclusive Movie Review
Thursday, August 22, 2013
MADRAS CAFE : Exclusive Movie Review
Directed by Shoojit Sircar
Produced by John Abraham/Viacom 18 Motion Pictures/Ronnie Lahiri
Music by Shantanu Moitra
Stars: John Abraham, Nargis Fakhri, Siddhartha Basu, Prakash Belawadi, Ajay Ratnam, Raashi Khanna & Dinesh Nair
Movie Review by Sree Prasad Nair
Theater – National Cinemas, Abu Dhabi, UAE
22/08/2013 – 8.45pm
Occupancy – 80% (Surprised because movie was not even promoted in overseas)
Director Shoojit Sircar debuted in 2005 with the critically acclaimed film Yahaan. But the film was a flop mainly because it was slotted among much bigger summer releases. But with his second film , Vicky Donor he bagged the National Award for Best Popular Film providing wholesome entertainment. The film was a superhit at the box office. Vicky Donor was produced by actor John Abraham! Juhi Chaturvedi was the screen/dialogue writer.
Madras Cafe is the second film of Superhit Shoojit-John-Juhi team after Vicky Donor. Madras Cafe stars John Abraham & Nargis Fakhri in the main leads. Indian television producer and quiz show host Siddhartha Basu playing a vital role in the film. Raashi Khanna makes her debut with Madras Cafe. Madras Cafe also stars Prakash Belawadi, Tamil actor Ajay Ratnam, Malayalam actor Dinesh Nair.
Story
Madras Cafe is a political spy thriller, set against the backdrop of Sri Lankan Civil War of 1990's. Madras Cafe is the story of an Indian Intelligence agent (John Abraham) is deputed into a war torn coastal island, to conduct covert operations and break a resolute rebel group. Madras Cafe is a story about the assassination of our former Prime Minister.
Madras Cafe is a must visit place for cinegoers!!! Let me start with the positives of the film.
Positives
Madras Cafe starts off very well. Infact the first half of Madras Cafe is simply brilliant, superb thrilling almost at par with the recently released thriller D Day. Madras Cafe is Shoojit Sircar's third outing and you can't help but notice the giant strides he has taken as a technician. The film is stylishly shot, has a grand look despite it being a political thriller film. Direction is top class and easily the main positive about the film. Kudos to him for making a brilliant film without a single song in those 2 hour 18mins!
Madras Cafe will be a landmark film of John Abraham's acting career (yes way better than Dhoom, acting-wise). Good to see that finally John is selecting some sensible scripts. John Abraham as Vikram Singh is remarkable. There is a marked growth in John's performances and his performance in Madras Cafe only endorses this statement.
Special mention must be given to the Background Music Composer Shantanu Moitra. BG Music is just terrific and almost at par with my personal favorite BG music of the year, Lootera! The end credit song, Sun Le Re is really good. Cinematography by Kamaljeet Negi is topnotch, captured the beautiful locations of Kerala, Tamil Nadu & Hyderabad beautifully.
Script writers Somnath Dey, Shubendu Bhattacharya deserve a pat for attempting a novel theme and packaging it very well. Same goes to dialogue writer Juhi Chaturvedi. Her dialogues are simple, but intelligent!
Nargis Fakhri finally gets a role and this time she is really good. Her acting/expressions is improved and super confident as charismatic and passionate journalist. Raashi Khanna makes an imposing debut as John's wife. Truly admirable in the emotional scenes. Good find!
Indian television producer and quiz show host Siddhartha Basu is surprisingly good as government officer RD. Prakash Belawadi as Bala is quite a scene-stealer! Tamil actor Ajay Ratnam as Anna & Malayalam actor Dinesh Nair as Rajashekaran are proficient. Sanjay Gurbaxani as the former Prime Minister is good in a limted role. Famous Journalist Dibang's cameo is perfect. Controversial South Indian Model-Actress is OK in a 20sec role!
Negatives
Madras Cafe is slow paced at some portions in the second half. Editing could have been much better. Some of the important portions in the second half is fast paced. Climax is predictable although filming is well executed.
I would like to add an extra paragraph in this negative portion for Madras Cafe makers poor promotion. Under-promoting a film is not new in bollywood. But if you are planning to release your movie between Shah Rukh Khan/Akshay Kumar films and multi-starrer Satyagraha (releasing next week) No other option, You makers should promote the film very well!!! Disappointing to realize that makers not even promoted the movie at the overseas. Promotion strategies were undoubtedly very poor from the makers. Not to forget it is strictly a multiplex film!
Overall Madras Cafe is a honest effort from director Shoojit Sircar. A brilliant first half, good direction by Shoojit, John's performance & Shantanu Moitra's BG Music as plus points . The film is mainly targetted for limited audience, i'.e Multiplex audience. Don’t think much takers in Single Screens and also the chance of a long run is ruled out with multi-starrer Satyagraha releasing next week and Zanjeer/Shudh Desi Romance releasing on September 6th! At the box office film is all set to open 4-6crores with a weekend of 15-18crs.
Word Of Mouth will be very good!
P:S:REALLY WISH THIS GOOD FILM HAD A GOOD PROMOTIONS!!!
Verdict - MADRAS CAFE... A MUST VISIT FOR CINEGOERS!!!
Rating - 3.50/5! Very Good !!!
This Reviewer can be contacted on Twitter : @i_spn : https://twitter.com/i_spn
Produced by John Abraham/Viacom 18 Motion Pictures/Ronnie Lahiri
Music by Shantanu Moitra
Stars: John Abraham, Nargis Fakhri, Siddhartha Basu, Prakash Belawadi, Ajay Ratnam, Raashi Khanna & Dinesh Nair
Movie Review by Sree Prasad Nair
Theater – National Cinemas, Abu Dhabi, UAE
22/08/2013 – 8.45pm
Occupancy – 80% (Surprised because movie was not even promoted in overseas)
Director Shoojit Sircar debuted in 2005 with the critically acclaimed film Yahaan. But the film was a flop mainly because it was slotted among much bigger summer releases. But with his second film , Vicky Donor he bagged the National Award for Best Popular Film providing wholesome entertainment. The film was a superhit at the box office. Vicky Donor was produced by actor John Abraham! Juhi Chaturvedi was the screen/dialogue writer.
Madras Cafe is the second film of Superhit Shoojit-John-Juhi team after Vicky Donor. Madras Cafe stars John Abraham & Nargis Fakhri in the main leads. Indian television producer and quiz show host Siddhartha Basu playing a vital role in the film. Raashi Khanna makes her debut with Madras Cafe. Madras Cafe also stars Prakash Belawadi, Tamil actor Ajay Ratnam, Malayalam actor Dinesh Nair.
Story
Madras Cafe is a political spy thriller, set against the backdrop of Sri Lankan Civil War of 1990's. Madras Cafe is the story of an Indian Intelligence agent (John Abraham) is deputed into a war torn coastal island, to conduct covert operations and break a resolute rebel group. Madras Cafe is a story about the assassination of our former Prime Minister.
Madras Cafe is a must visit place for cinegoers!!! Let me start with the positives of the film.
Positives
Madras Cafe starts off very well. Infact the first half of Madras Cafe is simply brilliant, superb thrilling almost at par with the recently released thriller D Day. Madras Cafe is Shoojit Sircar's third outing and you can't help but notice the giant strides he has taken as a technician. The film is stylishly shot, has a grand look despite it being a political thriller film. Direction is top class and easily the main positive about the film. Kudos to him for making a brilliant film without a single song in those 2 hour 18mins!
Madras Cafe will be a landmark film of John Abraham's acting career (yes way better than Dhoom, acting-wise). Good to see that finally John is selecting some sensible scripts. John Abraham as Vikram Singh is remarkable. There is a marked growth in John's performances and his performance in Madras Cafe only endorses this statement.
Special mention must be given to the Background Music Composer Shantanu Moitra. BG Music is just terrific and almost at par with my personal favorite BG music of the year, Lootera! The end credit song, Sun Le Re is really good. Cinematography by Kamaljeet Negi is topnotch, captured the beautiful locations of Kerala, Tamil Nadu & Hyderabad beautifully.
Script writers Somnath Dey, Shubendu Bhattacharya deserve a pat for attempting a novel theme and packaging it very well. Same goes to dialogue writer Juhi Chaturvedi. Her dialogues are simple, but intelligent!
Nargis Fakhri finally gets a role and this time she is really good. Her acting/expressions is improved and super confident as charismatic and passionate journalist. Raashi Khanna makes an imposing debut as John's wife. Truly admirable in the emotional scenes. Good find!
Indian television producer and quiz show host Siddhartha Basu is surprisingly good as government officer RD. Prakash Belawadi as Bala is quite a scene-stealer! Tamil actor Ajay Ratnam as Anna & Malayalam actor Dinesh Nair as Rajashekaran are proficient. Sanjay Gurbaxani as the former Prime Minister is good in a limted role. Famous Journalist Dibang's cameo is perfect. Controversial South Indian Model-Actress is OK in a 20sec role!
Negatives
Madras Cafe is slow paced at some portions in the second half. Editing could have been much better. Some of the important portions in the second half is fast paced. Climax is predictable although filming is well executed.
I would like to add an extra paragraph in this negative portion for Madras Cafe makers poor promotion. Under-promoting a film is not new in bollywood. But if you are planning to release your movie between Shah Rukh Khan/Akshay Kumar films and multi-starrer Satyagraha (releasing next week) No other option, You makers should promote the film very well!!! Disappointing to realize that makers not even promoted the movie at the overseas. Promotion strategies were undoubtedly very poor from the makers. Not to forget it is strictly a multiplex film!
Overall Madras Cafe is a honest effort from director Shoojit Sircar. A brilliant first half, good direction by Shoojit, John's performance & Shantanu Moitra's BG Music as plus points . The film is mainly targetted for limited audience, i'.e Multiplex audience. Don’t think much takers in Single Screens and also the chance of a long run is ruled out with multi-starrer Satyagraha releasing next week and Zanjeer/Shudh Desi Romance releasing on September 6th! At the box office film is all set to open 4-6crores with a weekend of 15-18crs.
Word Of Mouth will be very good!
P:S:REALLY WISH THIS GOOD FILM HAD A GOOD PROMOTIONS!!!
Verdict - MADRAS CAFE... A MUST VISIT FOR CINEGOERS!!!
Rating - 3.50/5! Very Good !!!
This Reviewer can be contacted on Twitter : @i_spn : https://twitter.com/i_spn
