
2 minute read
ENDEARINGLY PALATE PLEASING
from 2017-10 Sydney (1)
by Indian Link
Chef
STARRING: Saif Ali Khan, Padampriya Janakiraman, Chandan Roy Sanyal, Milind Soman, Svar Kamble
DIRECTOR: Raja Krishna Menon
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An official Hindi remake of Jon Favreau’s 2014 film by the same name, Director Raja Krishna Menon’s Chef is a breezy film, centring around the self-discovery of Chef Roshan Kalra (Saif Ali Khan), a Michelin three star chef.
Roshan, who hails from a middle class Chandni Chowk family, is attracted towards cooking from the age of ten and aspires to learn cooking from the chhole bhature wala chacha in his neighbourhood and become a chef, much to the chagrin of his father who wants him to become an engineer.
How after losing his job at a renowned restaurant in the US, Roshan returns to Cochin to meet his son Armaan (Svar Kamble) who lives with his ex- wife Radha (Padampriya Janakiraman) and realises his priorities and centres his career as a chef around them, is actually the raison d’etre of the film.
The film dives straight into his present life as a chef in the US and merely skims through his early life, including his failed marriage and divorce. While the first half has a wee bit of emotional drama, the second half is a series of road trips showcasing Roshan’s newfound meaning in life as a chef and how he makes a success of it.
Director Raja Menon extracts natural performances from his actors and that perhaps is the strength of the film as the story is staid and the treatment simple. There is no element of drama or any interesting twists. Humour comes in the form of Saif’s comic timing and some witty one liners.
Saif as Chef Roshan Kalra is endearing. He portrays the character in his inimitable style with his attitude and swag to boot. Save some attempts at chopping, or perhaps frying, one does not really get a peek into his cooking skills. His relationship with his son Armaan aka Ari is one of the highlights of the film.
Swar Kamble as the young Armaan is confident and essays his character realistically. Padampriya as Radha Menon, his ex-wife, is every inch the independent working professional who has put her past behind her and is yet a lives with a reined-in vigour.
There is Arjun Anand, whose relationship with Kavya grows when he starts taking care of her dementiaridden father (Shiv Subramaniam). Barun Sobti and Shahana Goswami play Arjun and Kavya with such warmth and candour it feels like they are a couple I know first-hand. But the footloose womanizing Rashid’s (Avinash Tiwary) growing closeness to the abandoned wife (Rasika Dugal) and mother is equally compelling.
Both the romances plough persuasively into our hearts. As does the sulky musician Dominic’s (Vishal Malhotra) troubled relationship with his brother until his sunshiny sister-inlaw-to-be (Manvi Gagroo) intervenes. And how can I forget the decent Parsi whitecollar boy Mehernosh (Nakul Bhalla) who can’t bear to watch his office colleague Peppy (Pallavi Batra) being abused by their boss.
Finally, there is Jayesh (Jay Upadhyay) the Gujarati businessman stifled by his commodious family’s noisy religiosity. When Jayesh has a sudden meltdown, we are unprepared for it.
But if you ask me the one real hero that stands tallest in this film of looming achievements is the writing. The sharply but unobtrusively-drawn characters and the intriguingly spot-on situations and words that they exchange will have you wondering where you’ve met all these people before.
While you figure that out, please excuse me. I must see the film again.
Subhash K. Jha
friend and well-wisher of her husband. Milind Soman as Biju, Radha’s friend and anchor is competent, while Chandan Roy Sanyal as Nazrul, a junior Chef and devoted to his guru Chef Roshan has nothing much to offer, but is sincere. Overall, Chef is a feel-good film about the importance of relationships and the message comes across smoothly albeit garbed in a long-drawn plot.
Troy Ribeiro