First up, there is absolutely nothing in Madras Café that any sane person ought to object to. As usual, the folks whose ‘sentiments are hurt’ by a film are the ones who almost certainly haven’t seen the film, and are likely looking for a bit of attention.
Madras Café is based on the events surrounding the brief war in Sri Lanka between the LTTE and the Indian peacekeeping force, and the later assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, the prime minister who had sent the force there.
The things I like best about the film are the things that it is not. It is not melodramatic. It is not masala song and dance fare. It is not about John Abraham playing Rambo or his desi equivalent. Those things are fun to watch, too, but this is much, much closer to the real thing. It is a different pleasure.
If you want a Hindi film that shows you some glimpses of how covert wars are fought and assassinations plotted in our part of the world, Madras Café is a good start. Despite its tagline of "intercept the truth", it is fictionalized, but it does convey something of the way those things happen.
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