Realistic political cinema for the masses

A Tamil conflict in Sri Lanka. A former Indian Prime Minister on the campaign trail. A suicide bomber wearing thick-rimmed glasses, waiting in a small town in Tamil Nadu with a smile on her lips and a garland in her hands.

It's easy to predict what the high point of Madras Cafe will be once you know that it is, in the garb of fiction, the story of Rajiv Gandhi's assassination in Sriperumbudur on May 21, 1991. But despite the foreknowledge and the dampening power of expectation, watching the incident unfurl on the big screen somehow manages to give the film epic proportions. Not for being an outstanding piece for cinema, but simply for going where few Hindi movies have dared to go before.

A spy thriller at heart, Madras Cafe is presented from the point of view of an Indian army officer working for the government's covert Research & Analysis Wing (RAW). Played by a refreshingly understated John Abraham, this officer tries to uncover a plot against the "ex-PM" hatched by Indian political groups, Sri Lankan rebels and Western lobbyists who meet at various Madras Cafes in Singapore, Bangkok and London.

The film is tight, slick, and captures the mood of an early 90s India and a pristine but battle-torn Sri Lanka. The background score kicks in at just the right moments as we ride across the sea on noisy steamers and on rickety buses plying on coconut-lined streets. It does miss a few beats though while documenting the frustration that accompanies any meticulous investigation. You don't get a genuine sense of exasperation as the agent is trying to make sense of what the plot is, whom it is against, and how it will eventually play out.

But the last half hour of Madras Cafe, in which director Shoojit Sircar's meticulous research comes together to seamlessly tie in reality with fiction, is adequate reward for wading through those relatively dull moments. He chooses not to take a stand about right and wrong, or make a jingoistic comment on victory and defeat. At the bitter end, when the ex-PM's white sneakers lie streaked with blood, you just know you've watched something unprecedented, even if not unexpected- a trailblazer that may pave the way for realistic political cinema for the masses.