Review Madras Cafe

A Comfort Zone for John Abraham,
Where He can Show off his Physical Prowess


Cast: John Abraham, Nargis Fakhri, Prakash Belawade, Siddhartha Basu, Ajay Rathnam, Raashi Khanna

Director: Shoojit Sircar

Rating: ***

The Difficulties of attempting a true-blue Bollywood political thriller are evident in Madras Café. Director Shoojit Sircar places his film at the height of the civil war in Sri Lanka in the late '80s and early '90s, and it culminates in the assassination of an Indian political figure who closely resembles Rajiv Gandhi, but he (Sircar) is clearly constrained in naming names.
 
Yes, Sri Lanka is Sri Lanka, and Jaffna is Jaffna, but too often, the characters in the film call it, awkwardly, 'the island'. Not once is Rajiv Gandhi named: the actor who plays him is a look-alike, but he is consistently referred to as the 'ex-Prime Minister'. Rebel force LTTE, which spearheaded the demand for a 'separate Tamil homeland (Eelam)' is called LTF in the film. And LTTE chief Prabhakaran, the man behind Rajiv's assassination, becomes Anna (Rathnam).

Still, props to Sircar for pulling off, more or less, an I-spy fast-paced saga which has resonance. John Abraham plays a fictional army officer suborned by RAW, who is sent off to Jaffna for a covert operation. Those with long memories will remember how Sri Lanka's war had spilled over into the international arena, and how the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) had become the target of LTTE ire, and caused much political heartburn in India. India's attempt at keeping peace in the island nation had been one of Rajiv Gandhi's missions, which came to a rocky, controversial end, and which, directly and indirectly, caused his own tragic end .

Vikram Singh (Abraham) Reports to local Superior Bala (Belawade) in Lanka, and tries to break away Anna's supporters: the idea is to defame Anna, and ensure the return of peace. Meanwhile, a mysterious Indian is busy hatching a conspiracy with some foreign players at a fictional Madras Café: those involved do not want a political solution, their interest is in keeping the strife going, the loss of innocent lives be damned.

The film is fashioned as a flashback, and Abraham's beginning — bearded and burdened with the memories of having failed to protect 'his prime minister'— is unpromising. But Sircar gets past his hero's initial stiltedness by putting him into fatigues and sending him into the conflict zone. This is much more Abraham's comfort zone, where he can show off his physical prowess, and his ability to share screen space with his co-stars without wanting to dominate them. His meeting with Bala leads him deeper into the maze, where he has to negotiate treachery and Personal tragedy and the unravelling of the plot to kill an ex-PM. This is also where he meets British-Indian journo Jaya Sahni (Fakhri), who helps him piece together the conspiracy via some crucial clues.

For the most part, I enjoyed Madras Café. When Abraham sticks to toting a gun, he is fine. Fakhri's luscious lips are still to the fore (as they were in Rockstar), but she doesn't do a bad job in playing an intrepid, cigarette-smoking journo reporting from the war zone, in a Hollywood-familiar way: like most helicopter journalists from firang land, she instantly and without any discernible trouble gets an interview with Anna. The film's tone is mostly pared down, but there's some Bollywood-style emotion to be had from Vikram's interactions with his lonely wife (Khanna). I also had fun with some of the bits shot in South and North Block in New Delhi, in which familiar faces from the capital circuit play senior bureaucrats and spy chiefs (quiz man Siddhartha Basu, playing RAW honcho Robin Dutt, has a meaty role and settles well in it, and journalist Dibang has a nice cameo as a small cog in the intelligence wheel: full disclosure, I know these people).

The end-game segment is surprisingly accomplished, in which a bunch of hand-picked LTF cadres prepare for the human bomb (the actor is a dead ringer for Dhanu, the real-life assassin). This explosion is recreated with the right degree of vividness: the glimpse of the intended victim kept to a flash of an over-turned white sports shoe of the sort Rajiv Gandhi favoured, an image which was on our front pages the next day, after that fateful 1991 rally at Sriperumbudur.

In trying to keep it fast-moving, the film turns choppy and confusing in parts. Also, a few of the characters are a tad comic book-y, matching the ludicrousness of some dialogues. The high-flying journalist helping the hero bit feels contrived. But it is so rare to find a director and producer-cum-lead -actor committed to making films that are willing to deal with real-life events — Rajiv Gandhi's assassination changed India's tracks in ways we are still dealing with — and say it in a manner that keeps you fairly engaged, that I'd say Madras Café isn't half bad, even if it could have been better.

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Movie Review: Race 2

Cast: Saif Ali Khan, John Abraham, Deepika Padukone, Jacqueline Fernandez, Ameesha Patel, Anil Kapoor 
Director: Abbas-Mustan 
Rating: ** 

A Significant Chunk of Mumbai Filmdom’s creative output has changed for the better since the year 2008, the first quarter of which saw the release of Race, a Hollywood rip-off that had Bollywood critics run for cover.

Nearly five years on, the directing duo of Abbas-Mustan is still at it – cantering around aimlessly with a convoluted thriller that zips, zaps and zooms through an amoral landscape peopled by sharks and bloodhounds whose only trip in life is to settle old scores, hatch new conspiracies and, when necessary, lay murderous traps. 

On the face of it, Race 2 is a glitzy, action-packed entertainer. Scratch the surface – in fact, that is all there is to the film – and what you are left with is superficial style bereft of logic and substance. 

But, then, isn’t that the failsafe formula that has stood many a Bollywood pulp-maker in good stead over the years? 

Race 2 proves how difficult it can be for a producer to let go of an idea that yielded a box-office bonanza the first time around. The makers of this film obviously haven’t heard of, or do not believe in, the law of diminishing returns. 

Race 2 isn’t so much a sequel as an ill-advised rehash. Revenge, one character says, is a dish best served cold. Ideas, for sure, aren’t best served stale.

This is the second year in succession after 2012’s Players that Abbas-Mustan have the honour of unleashing the first Bollywood biggie of the year. Race 2, like Players, is big only on nausea-inducing clatter. 

The obvious question is: does this slapdash scurry to the finishing line really have the steam to replicate the kind of runaway box-office success that the prelude had enjoyed? 

Or will Race 2 go the way of the wayward Players, the Burmawalla siblings’ official Hindi remake of the British crime caper flick, The Italian Job?

At the heart of Race 2 are two wrangling men endowed with sculpted bodies and an ingrained air of masculine insouciance. 

The brawny John Abraham (replacing the relatively scrawny Akshaye Khanna of the earlier film) ensures that the sequel has a markedly higher beefcake and testosterone quotient. 

Keeping the boys company is a trio of bimbos all too eager to flash generous décolletage while playing second fiddle. All of the above is, of course, par for the course in an Abbas-Mustan film. 

Many of the faces and the principal location have changed in the sequel, but the overall veneer is pretty much the same. 

Race 2 is slickly packaged around dramatic twists and turns that fly at you thicker and faster than you care to count.

Race 2 moves at a fair clip and is packed with explosions, stunts and chases that might be crowd-pleasing. The trouble is that the narrative is too breathless for its own good.

To be fair, some of the implausible action sequences are startlingly good. However, they do not add up to a convincing enough whole that can paper over the holes in the narrative. 

Some Bollywood directors tend to labour under the misplaced belief that a film must be crammed, end to end, with relentless excitement, extravagant dance routines and ear-splitting background music for it to find ready takers. Excess does not always yield success. 

The action in Race 2 takes place in Turkey, where, we learn, that the Indian underworld is just as active as it is back home.

Ranveer Singh (Saif Ali Khan), a rare remnant from Race, scours the hot spots of Istanbul in search of the mastermind behind the killing of his beloved Sonia (Bipasha Basu in a cameo). 

In his risky quest, Ranveer has to contend with a slew of men and women who, like him, are out to make a quick buck and get the hell out of here. 

And, of course, there is ex-cop Robert D’Costa (Anil Kapoor), the only man who Ranvir seemed to be at ease with when the curtains came down on the first film. 

The private eye has a gloriously daft female assistant in the form of Ameesha Patel. The actress isn’t seen much these days on the screen. Just as well! 

Istanbul generally looks great as a backdrop through the lens of Ravi Yadav’s camera and much of the film is rather easy on the eye. But when the cars and bloodthirsty men get in the way, they only serve to muck up the view.

As for the women on the screen (Deepika Padukone and Jacqueline Fernandez), they strut around like wound-up automatons that are all decked-up but have nowhere to go. 

Is Race 2 on your mind? Get rid of it pronto. This is a wreck of a movie strictly for action junkies who might be looking for a feverish two-and-a-half-hour ride that is far more giddy than heady.

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Fire on Friday, ‘Race 2’, ‘Aakash Vani’ and ‘Main Krishna Hoon’ at the box Office!

The much-talked about mega-budget action-packed thriller ‘Race 2’ is coming out this Friday alongside small romantic film ‘Akaash Vani’. If they don`t whet your appetite, you can choose 3D-animation film ‘Main Krishna Hoon’ to satiate your cravings for movies.

Sequel to the 2008 film, ‘Race’, Abbas-Mustan directed ‘Race 2’, a sleek film, is set in the exotic locales in Europe, with the backdrop of casinos and gambling.

The thriller that takes the legacy of ‘Race’ forward claims to be an edge-of-the-seat drama with high octane action, combined with twists that will take audiences on adventure-filled rollercoaster ride.

In part two, Anil Kapoor and Saif Ali Khan reprise their roles as Robert D`Costa and Ranveer Singh respectively from the previous film, while Deepika Padukone, John Abraham, Jacqueline Fernandez and Ameesha Patel are new additions to the cast.

Actress Bipasha Basu will reprise her role of Sonia in a special appearance in the film.

After the action and thrill of ‘Race 2’, next on the list is director Luv Ranjan`s romantic offering – ‘Akaash Vani’, about two youngsters - Akaash, played by Kartik Tiwari, and Vani, played by Nushrat Bharucha.

Both of them set out on their journey with a common destination - St. Stephen`s College in Delhi University. The moment they meet, their life takes an unusual turn.

Vani has a calming effect on Akaash, who in return instils a bit of a rebellious streak in her. In three years, Akaash and Vani become best buddies. But as the college ends, they have to part ways.

The film, produced by Kumar Mangat Pathak and Abhishek Pathak under the banner Wide Frame Pictures, is the journey of their struggle to find each other again.

This week the children will have something to look forward too. ‘Main Krishna Hoon’, a 3D-animation film featuring actress Juhi Chawla, who plays Kantaben in it, is coming out too.

In the film, Juhi runs an orphanage. She is impressed by a boy who arrives at the orphanage, braving the rain and the flood. His perseverance inspires her to name him as boy Krishna.

He is unhappy being alone in an orphanage and has a health disorder. To wipe away his tears and entertain the other children, Kantaben tells them inspiring stories about the naughty and loveable Lord Krishna. 

The film, directed by Rajiv S. Ruia, also has Katrina Kaif, Hrithik Roshan and Rajneesh Duggal in cameos.

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