One of India’s leading film and entertainment companies, Viacom18 Motion Pictures together with Indian film actor John Abraham’s JA Entertainment present what is billed as one of this year’s most tense political thrillers set against the backdrop of the Sri Lanka civil war and the assassination of a key Indian political leader, Madras Café, releasing globally on 23rd August 2013.
A JA Entertainment and Rising Sun Films Production, Madras Café sees award-winning actor John Abraham (Force, Academy Award Nominated Water, Jism) turn producer for the second time in his career after the international success of the off-beat comedy Vicky Donor. At the directorial helm is avant-garde independent film maker and producer Shoojit Sircar, who is responsible for such well-received films as Vicky Donor and Yahaan, for which he won the Indian Competition Special Jury Award at Osian’s Cinefan Festival of Asian and Arab Cinema.
The film features an accomplished cast, including Nargis Fakhri (Rockstar), Prosenjit Chatterjee, Rashi Khanna, Siddharth Basu and Agnello Dias. The stirring musical score comes from Shantanu Moitra (3 Idiots, Parineeta).
Madras Café is set against the backdrop of the tumultuous and controversial Sri Lankan civil war of the 1980s. July 2013 marked the 30 year anniversary of the conflict, which finally ended in 2009 with the military defeat of the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Madras Café provides a timely reminder of the gruesome conflict that claimed thousands of Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim lives and left millions of people displaced and desolate. The war’s impact was felt across the world with both Eastern and Western nations involved in the negotiations for a resolution.
John Abraham performs the role of Captain Vikram Singh, an accomplished Para Military Officer recruited by the R&AW’s (India’s external security agency) Indian head Robin Dutt (RD) – with the mandate to execute certain covert Intelligence operations in Jaffna, Sri Lanka, and conduct peaceful provincial council elections. However, as Vikram delves deeper into his covert operations against a faceless enemy in a daring game of cat-and-mouse, he suddenly becomes the hunted. Soon the beleaguered Vikram realises that there is a leak within his own group.
As Vikram finds himself embroiled deeper into the ‘game’, he steps into a sinister and bigger plan – a conspiracy to remove an important Indian leader. Vikram’s primary task is to figure out the ‘who, when, why and what’ of this conspiracy, with very little time at hand. With RD’s full support, he attempts to uncover and stop this conspiracy from happening. And that too against opponents that are shrewd, vile, unseen, unknown, besides having to deal with an internal, almost indifferent, sceptical political system.
Vikram’s quest for the truth sees him team up with an ally in the field – an Indo-Western journalist named ‘Jaya’ (Nargis Fakhri). Together they set about finding the truth amongst a complex web of lies and deceit, and begin telling the world their incredible story.
Viacom18 Motion Pictures and JA Entertainment present A JA Entertainment and Rising Sun Films Production’s Madras Café. Madras Café releases nationwide on 23rd August 2013 through Viacom18 Motion Pictures.
