MUMBAI: Director Shoojit Sircar’s last film was a quirky romantic comedy ‘Vicky Donor’. No one would have thought he would shift from that genre to a political thriller in ‘Madras Cafe’ (earlier titled ‘Jaffna’). But for those familiar with his first film ‘Yahaan’, though, this will not be a surprise.

‘Madras Cafe’ stars John Abraham, Nargis Fakhri and Ayushmann Khurrana and the film deals with cross-border terrorism between Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka.

To go with that heavy theme, the poster of the film has finally arrived. The poster bears an outline of Sri Lanka, probably hinting that the major action will take place in Sri Lanka. Was that why the film was initially titled ‘Jaffna’? (Jaffna is the capital of the northern province of Sri Lanka.)

The poster also features John Abraham with a gun. He is playing the role of an Indian Intelligence Agent in the film. The poster also features a lot of random shots from the film including an indicator that some action will take place in Jaffna. There are also soldiers and helicopters, which suggest we’ll see John Abraham, Nargis Fakhri and Ayushmann Khurrana in very earthy, gritty roles.

This is Nargis Fakhri’s second starring-role after director Imtiaz Ali’s ‘Rockstar’.

Coincidentally, the poster of the film bears a striking resemblance to another poster that was recently released. Santosh Sivan’s bilingual film – ‘Ceylon’ in English and ‘Inam’ in Tamil – had a poster with the outline of Sri Lanka, made to look like a fingerprint. More creative, but it does not convey much about the film. In that case, the poster for ‘Madras Cafe’ may not look good but it at least informs the audience about what film they can expect.

Shoojit Sircar’s ‘Madras Cafe’, produced by John Abraham himself, releases on 23 August, 2013.