John Abraham and Nargis Fakhri starrer Madras Cafe is making news owing to its plot which is based on true facts of the controversial Lankan Civil War of the 1980s. While the plot may be based on the Lankan civil war, the look of the film seems to remind us of 2001’s Hollywood blockbuster Black Hawk Down.
Black Hawk Down was based on the Somalian Civil War and the helicopters shown in the film were the actual Black Hawk helicopters used by the U.S. military. Coincidentally, John Abraham’s Madras Cafe’s trailer also opens with three choppers surveying the Indian waters which refresh the memories of Black Hawk Down. However, Madras Cafe unlike Black Hawk Down is a one-man-mission film and concentrates more on the political conspiracy theory than the war action.
The film’s director Shoojit Sircar and producer John Abraham have promised to take the Indian cinema up a notch and make Madras Cafe a pioneer in the league of films which will put Bollywood on the international map. “My films are content driven and I had to recreate the civil war in Jaffna, a part of the world which we have not seen in Indian cinema ever. But I think through our production design, art direction and especially sound, we have been able to achieve the war milieu.” says director Shoojit Sircar.
Producer John Abraham and director Shoojit Sircar procured the helicopters used in the film from Malaysia and the sounds of the bullets were recorded in Singapore to get the perfect effects needed for a film like Madras Cafe. “You have to transport the audience to the war ambience because unless they feel the terror of that situation it will not penetrate their hearts.” says Shoojit Sircar who is very happy with the way the film has turned out. Needless to say that Black Hawk Down won the academy award for Best Sound and Madras Cafe is surely following its footsteps.
‘Madras Cafe’ starring John Abraham and Nargis Fakhri has been directed by Shoojit Sircar and is scheduled to release nationwide in theatres on 23rd August. It is co-produced by JA Entertainment, Viacom 18 Motion Pictures and Rising Sun Films.
