In 2014, Jon Favreau had directed and starred in Chef, a film about a professional chef, who starts a food truck after losing his job for being rude to a patron and three years later, Raja Krishna Menon teamed up with Saif Ali Khan to make the official remake of the film. But is this film as palatable as the dishes Saif cooks up in the film? Read on…
Set in New York, Kochi, Goa and New Delhi, Chef revolves around divorcee Roshan Kalra (Saif), who comes back to Kochi to spend some time with his son (Svar Kamble) after being fired from his job for punching a complaining patron.
Heeding the advice of his ex-wife Radha (Padmapriya) and her friend Biju (Milind Soman), Roshan takes an old bus and converts it into a food truck so as to rediscover his passion for cooking and to bond with his son. Soon, Roshan, his sidekick (Chandan Roy Sanyal), the son and their driver Alex (Dinesh Nair) embark on a journey with the food truck, which is aimed at cementing the relationship between the father and the son.
Saif, who was last seen in Rangoon, plays his character with admirable restraint and with a charmingly wry sense of humour. Child artiste Svar Kamble is a delight to watch and the scenes between Roshan and his son are some of the touching sequences of the film. Padampriya offers decent support to the narrative while Chandan is refreshingly cheery. Special mention must be made of Nair, who plays their driver Alex and brings a special flavor to the narrative.
As for the film itself, it cannot be denied that it has a few beautiful moments but the fact that it has too many sub plots mixed in the narrative, dilutes the story. There is Roshan’s relationship with his son, Roshan’s relationship with his own father, his insecurity about his ex-wife’s closeness to Biju and his own struggle between family and profession. I believe that had the director kept the film focused, it would have had more scope to connect with the audiences and the multiple subplots merely proved the adage ‘too many cooks spoil the broth’ (pun unintended).
What works for the film is its light touch sans any heavy melodrama and the cinematography. Priya Seth weaves magic with her camera and the sequences involving food are sure to make your mouth water while the way the scenic locales of various parts of India have been captured, will tempt you to pack your bags and leave for a vacation.
In conclusion, Chef is a decent but not an awesome fare…
Follow Us/movietalkies/media/agency_attachments/hBbuYH8x1MQbWJtOsPsP.webp)
/movietalkies/media/post_attachments/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/chef-2.jpg)
Set in New York, Kochi, Goa and New Delhi, Chef revolves around divorcee Roshan Kalra (Saif), who comes back to Kochi to spend some time with his son (/movietalkies/media/post_attachments/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/chef-3.jpg)
Heeding the advice of his ex-wife Radha (/movietalkies/media/post_attachments/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/chef-4.jpg)
Saif, who was last seen in /movietalkies/media/post_attachments/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/chef-5.jpg)
As for the film itself, it cannot be denied that it has a few beautiful moments but the fact that it has too many sub plots mixed in the narrative, dilutes the story. There is Roshan’s relationship with his son, Roshan’s relationship with his own father, his insecurity about his ex-wife’s closeness to Biju and his own struggle between family and profession. I believe that had the director kept the film focused, it would have had more scope to connect with the audiences and the multiple subplots merely proved the adage ‘too many cooks spoil the broth’ (pun unintended)./movietalkies/media/post_attachments/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/chef-6.jpg)
What works for the film is its light touch sans any heavy melodrama and the cinematography. Priya Seth weaves magic with her camera and the sequences involving food are sure to make your mouth water while the way the scenic locales of various parts of India have been captured, will tempt you to pack your bags and leave for a vacation.