Watching Madras Café reminded me of Breaking Bad. Of all the possible movies and show, it
reminded me of this one. Breaking Bad’s
long drawn scenes, often consisting of nothing more than a prolonged yet enthralling
conversation between a few characters is quite the antithesis of this movie.
The scenes are short, crisp, never lasting more than a
minute, usually lasting for half a minute.
The action jumps all over the place, which makes sense since the
characters in this overarching theme are scattered at diverse locations. It makes the ongoing at times tough to follow
and makes the proceeding a teensy bit muddled at times, but it adds a sense of
compelling urgency to the proceedings, which is one of the staples of a taut
thriller. And Madras Café is a taut
thriller no doubt.
A historic fiction of
sorts, the majority of the events and watershed moments in the tense Sri Lankan
conflicts are based on facts, with only the protagonist who acts as the lens
through which we see the drama unfold, and the immediate conflict surrounding him
being the fictionalized portion. Which
presents a very weird dilemma. Unable to
name the key elements, characters etc., the makers resort to fictionalized
names, which sounds like a fair idea, but in some cases, let the entity go
unnamed, referring to it by its title alone.
Which leads to some awkward phrasing, like referring to the “so very
obviously Rajiv Gandhi” character as Ex-PM.
Barring these instances and a few incidences – at one point, a R&AW
analyst, with a straight face and nary a hint of sarcasm explains that Kangaru
means Kangaroo (mind = blown) – the dialogue is serviceable.
The action sequences and the scenes of mayhem and
devastation are captured perfectly, neither shying away from the true horrors,
not glorifying or glamourizing the violence and gore. Shoojit Sircar continues his trend of casting
off beat actors/personalities in key roles (quizmaster Siddharth Basu is quite
a natural as the R&AW chief). The
acting overall is pitch perfect in line with the ongoings on screen with no
scenery chewing and no limelight hogging histrionics being attempted here.
Ironically, one of the weakest elements here is the plot
device used to capture the narrative, the very beginning and the ending of the
movie (which occurs mostly in flashbacks).
Lacking an inspirational finish, they opt for John’s Abrahams voice
ringing in the credits narrating Tagore’s “Where the Mind is Without Fear”
(which isn’t too shabby). Certainly
worth watching, this one. Oh, also, I
was confused regarding one aspect i.e. the location of the eponymous Madras Café. Was it Singapore or London? Oh well, maybe
they have franchises (perhaps it’s a fictionalized version of Starbucks).
