Best of this year till date.
The film begins with a disclaimer that it is a work of fiction. Names have been changed but the events of Madras Café are clearly based in the ethnic conflict in Srilanka, which ultimately led to the assassination of Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991. Here, the plot moves inexorably towards the assassination of a former prime minister.
Major Vikram is an intelligence officer with the Indian army enlisted in a covert operation to broker peace in the war-torn country. The film cuts rapidly between New Delhi, London, Bangkok and Kerala. There are high-powered meetings in Delhi in which powerful men give clipped orders like ‘Humein har halat mein Anna chahiye’. But missions are derailed by bloody betrayals on the ground.