Film director Shoojit Sircar says he believes in extracting subtle performances from his actors, and for "Madras Cafe", he has done the same for John Abraham's character.

John plays the lead in the movie, which is also produced by him.

"Sometimes we make the performances loud in our Hindi films, but my films have subtle performances, so I have kept him (John) under tone in all the performances (in the film). You will not feel that he is acting, I have kept him in the real zone," Sircar said here in an interview.

"To do that was not tough as we had rehearsed a lot, discussed a lot and I think we have managed in doing that," he added.

The film is based on terrorism and civil war and John plays an army officer, who is appointed by RAW to conduct covert operations in Sri Lanka.

About his inputs for the character, Sircar said: "I had to give him knowledge on this subject and tell him how to perform as I believe in subtle performances."

Slated to release Aug 23, the film features Nargis Fakhri as the female lead.