An Indian intelligence agent journeys to a war-torn coastal island to break a resolute rebel group and meets a passionate journalist.
An Indian Intelligence agent (portrayed by John Abraham)[9] journeys into a war torn coastal island, to break a resolute rebel group. He deftly maneuvers his resources to make significant breakthroughs, amidst a scenario where the enemy has no face and the only counsel is 'Don't get caught.' At various junctions, he meets a charismatic and passionate journalist (portrayed by Nargis Fakhri) who is following her will to reflect the truth behind the civil war. The story unfolds as their quest for the truth reveals a deeper conspiracy, by a faceless enemy, united to seize a common nemesis - India.—Anonymous
As per John Abraham, "Madras Cafe brings us closer to what changed the political history of India." The film, set in India and Sri Lanka in the 1980's, is a political spy thriller with the backdrop of the Sri Lankan civil war. Thousands of Tamils have been killed & the LTF is born with Anna Bhaskaran as its leader who encourages ethnic Tamils to take up arms to fight for against the Sinhalese. The civilian Tamils migrate to India, forcing the Indian Govt to intervene & the Indian Peace Keeping Force is in Sri Lanka to maintain peace. Anna rejects the peace accord of the India Govt to surrender arms of the LTF. He fears that if LTF surrenders arms, the Sinhalese will simply eradicate the Tamil after Indian Army leaves. India launches an operation to capture Anna. The operation fails & Anna turns against India.
Major Vikram Singh (John Abraham) is an Indian Army special officer who is appointed by the intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing to head covert operations in Jaffna shortly after Indian peace-keeping force was forced to withdraw. As he journeys to Sri Lanka, with the intention of disrupting the LTF rebels, he becomes entangled in rebel and military politics. Vikram's mission is to eliminate the LTF leadership including Anna, Malaya & Rajeskumaran & to prop Anna's rival Shri, so that provincial elections can take place in Jaffna.
Vikram meets Shri, who says that to counter Anna he needs arms. Vikram promises Shri all support from the Indian Govt.There he meets a British journalist Jaya Sahni (Nargis Fakri) who wants to reveal the truth about the civil war, and in the process he uncovers a conspiracy to assassinate "a former Indian prime minister"
Jaya manages to get in contact with Anna, who in an interview again rejects the peace accord offered by the Indians. He is aware of Indian Govt helping Shri, so he decides to reach out to an unnamed foreign power for support. Rajeskumaran meets the foreign party in Madras Cafe in Singapore & secures a deal for arms & money for LTF.
The Indian arms consignment for Shri is abducted by LTF & reaches Anna instead. Now even Shri turns against India. Vikram investigates & finds that the leak happened from inside RAW & that his seniors were the ones who tipped LTF on the arms shipment & helped them get to it before Shri. Vikram suspects his own boss in Sri Lanka, a RAW official by the name of Bala, to be the mole. Vikram uses his sources within RAW to order a tap on Bala.
On orders from his superiors in New Delhi, Vikram reaches out to the LTF second in command Malaya. The thinking is still to conduct elections in Jaffna, but to also somehow cut Anna out of the process by propping Malaya & Shri as the 2 legitimate candidates. Malaya meets Indian RAW officials in Colombo & agrees to divulge the location of Anna's base in Jaffna. Indian Army attacks & thinks they have killed Anna. They promptly declare victory in media. But Anna had escaped & responds by killing Shri and Malaya.
This has serious implications in Delhi & the PM has to resign. The new Govt calls back the Indian army & this is a major victory for Anna. Before the next elections in India, the ex-PM declares that Tamil cause in Sri Lanka will be at the top of his foreign policy agenda, if re-elected. This declaration alarms Anna who fears the return of the Indian army. Anna forms a conspiracy with the foreign powers to assassinate the ex-PM. This chatter is picked up RAW Sri Lanka but is suppressed by Bala from ever reaching New Delhi. Vikram's trusted analyst in Bala's team tips him off on the conspiracy & Bala's orders of suppression. Bala finds out & orders Vikram's elimination. Vikram escapes the attack, but his wife is brutally sexually assaulted & murdered by Bala's men.
Vikram is devastated but is supported fully by his RAW leaders in New Delhi. They take the intercepts from Vikram & decode them & find the conspiracy to assassinate the Indian ex-PM. Vikram reaches out to Jaya who tells him that the foreign powers supporting Anna don't want a peaceful political solution to Jaffna. They want to pressurize New Delhi into continuing to buy arms that would only happen if New Delhi is embroiled in a lengthy war with Anna. As the surveillance on Bala increases, the foreign powers decide to eliminate him.
RAW New Delhi decides to depute Vikram to foil the assassination plot. Vikram finds that 6 teams with 4 members each have been dispatched from Jaffna. 1 team has made land at Madras & the ex-PM is scheduled to start his southern campaign soon in Madras. Vikram's team traces a call from Jaffna to their bomb maker in Madras. They raid the location & find that plastic explosives have been created that will not be detected by metal detectors.
Vikram seizes another intercept from Jaffna that confirms the time & location of the attack on the ex-PM. The team tries to stop the ex-PM from travelling to the rally where the attack is to take place. The ex-PM ignores the warning & is victim of the attack the same night, when the suicide bomber from Jaffna explodes the plastic explosives right under the ex-PMs nose.
