Bollywood Thriller Madras Café Causes Havoc in India

Caption:  Actors John Abraham and Nargis Fakhri play the lead in Madras Café.

BY ASHTOSH SINGH

John Abraham’s big cinema release this week, the spy thriller Madras Cafe, has caused controversy in India with Tamil groups demanding a ban.

Watching the official trailer of the film, it is obvious that the conflict in Sri Lanka and the assassination of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi is its central theme.

The film is set in the late 1980s and early 1990s and includes the time when Mr Gandhi was assassinated by Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tiger rebels in 1991 at an election rally in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.

Director Shoojit Sircar describes the film, which will be released across India and many parts of the world on 23 August, as “an espionage thriller”, but concedes that it draws from real-life events.

“The film is a work of fiction, but it is based on research into real events, it has a resemblance to actual political events, dealing with civil war and the ideology of a rebel group.

“The film revolves around important events that changed the political history of India,” he says.

The film’s lead actress Nargis Fakhri says the film is made in Bollywood, but has a “very international appeal”.

The movie, though based in Sri Lanka, was never filmed there – most took place in Kerala and in coastal Tamil Nadu with some bits shot in London, Malaysia, Thailand and elsewhere.

The producers, however, say they are in talks to release it in Sri Lanka too.

“We’ve been approached by distributors in Sri Lanka and we hope to release it there soon,” Mr Abraham said.

Story: BBC News India

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