A Wonderful Recipe – Cheeni Kum
The reactions of my friends to my love of Indian cinema ranges from befuddlement to humouring me. I have shown parts of Rang de Basanti and Omkara to my friends in the film industry, and while they appreciate the cinematography and many of the technical aspects of these films, they don’t enjoy the entire picture. My more socially conscious friends loved Traffic Signal and Amu, but can’t tolerate masala or much else I have tried to show them. I have a couple of friends who love Devdas as much as I, but I haven’t been able to interest them in much else. I have never seen an Indian film that I can show to all of my friends, especially those who are not filmmakers or cinema fans, that appeal to the average American.
Until today.
Watching Cheeni Kum was supposed to be a timepass on a long holiday weekend. I expected silly masala, with Amitabh Bachchan chewing up the screen as he has in the last few releases I have seen. What I didn’t expect was a mature, smart comedy.
A grouchy and egotistic chef falls in love with his sarcastic equal half his age. From the initial trailers, I expected this arc to be trite. Instead, it is smart and real, with few of the clichés and all the realities of a cross-generational romance. Other clichés are flirted with in this film. The adult-beyond-her-years young child. The over-protective father. The nagging mother. But, much of the charm of this film is that while the cliché is flirted with, it rarely spills over into stereotype.
Spoilers ahead.
The grouchy old man, the master chef Buddha, runs the most prestigious Indian restaurant in London. As all chefs are, he is hard and brash to the point of rudeness. Even after falling in love with Nina (a spectacular Tabu), he doesn’t soften to the point of mushy peas, but remains himself, a self that begins to change and become more of himself through his feelings for her. Nina is wonderful, a woman who doesn’t turn into a child once she finds the man of her dreams. The realism in this relationship between two adults is one that is not found in most movies made anywhere in the world. The dialogs between the two are sharp, funny, and true to life. One unrealistic scene, when Buddha literally drags Nina around London to prove a point, is funny enough and just within the scope of the character to not destroy the believabilty of him as an older man or them as a couple.
The character of Sexy, a nine-year old child who is Buddha’s neighbour, best friend, and granddaughter in one character, is guiding angel of the story – one of the oldest plot devices in cinema. But rather than play her for tears, melodrama or comedy, she still speaks like a young child, albeit one who realizes that her time on earth is probably going to be shorter than is fair. And, when she inevitability dies, it is not melodramatic, and even though the viewer knows she is going to die, and knows that she has died the minute Buddha gets the untimely phone call, her death is not played for cheap tears and melodrama.
And, that is the joy of this film. It flirts with all of the conventions of large films – melodrama, love, death, cute children, cute elderly people, and yet they are all real, believable and likeable people, not characters. It has the feel of an independent film, and during the interval someone pointed out that it was more like a film that would be shown on the festival circuit than a big budget Bollywood film.
The movie is alternately heavy and funny, often at the same time. I was impressed at the way that the more serious moments in the film were also the funniest. The levity of the film was realistic – showing the way that we all tend to laugh at our most difficult moments at the silliest, small things.
And, technically, the film was amazing. The editing was fantastic, and cudos go to the production team for using a stop and cut technique that has irritated me in other films but just works in this one. With one misstep, the music was perfect. And with no sweeping shots of London or Dehli, the beauty and charm of both cities was displayed wonderfully.
There were moments of brilliance in the movie. The scene where Buddha’s mother physically reaches out to grab his hands to guide him when he needs it the most, occurring at the same time Nina’s father, who is physically restraining her by the arm, releases her is one of the best cinematic moments I have seen in a long time, and the movie is filled with these little nuances of movement and connection.
I can’t finish this without pointing out that all the actors were wonderful, especially Zohra Sehgal, whom I have never heard of before today but who played the elderly mother not as a typical nag, but as a woman who enjoys her life, partially by giving her son a hard time.
This is not a perfect film. I found the depiction of the English waiter as someone who is incapable of pronouncing something as simple as “raan” somewhat offensive. Especially as it was played for jokes throughout the film. This was not the only slight given to a Westerner that I noticed, either (and, Indian tourists in England are not spared, either). And, a chef would never insult a customer, especially without tasting a dish that was sent back to the kitchen. There were other small inaccuracies about London itself that struck me, but I think I only noticed them because I was so entranced by how wonderful the overall movie is.
What amazes me most about this film is its accessibility. This is the first Indian film I have seen that I think has the ability to cross over to a mainstream world market. I don’t mean the types of non-Indian cinema fans who watch the films of Mira Nair or Gurinder Chadha, but to the average film watcher who is open to the occasional subtitled foreign film. The story is universal and entertaining, the characters appealing, the actors all wonderful. So, I am wondering why isn’t this film releasing in art houses here in the US? Where is the English language marketing? For all the posts and comments here on PFC about the state of Indian films getting recognized (or not recognized) in the US and Europe, why is it that this film which has the potential to find a wide, world-wide audience not being marketed to that audience? Were the producers just hoping that they can sell it at Cannes and not put too much work into the initial release? This film should be marketed to everyone and distributed everywhere, because this movie is a true gem that should be shared with the rest of the world.
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
lovely movie indeed,if there is one man in indian filmland who could carry that role with that finesse it is amitabh, and tabu was a remarkable match.
was worth worth every penny spent to buy the ticket in black to kill time on a saturday evening.
t!
“This is the first Indian film I have seen that I think has the ability to cross over to a mainstream world market. I don
The first paragraph sounds so familiar to me, t! ;)
I really would like to watch this one at the cinema! x(
So, I am wondering why isnUN:F [1.7.5_995]
Rating: 0 (from 0 votes)
= Mainak, First see the film and then make strong judgments like “No way this film can cross over”… it’s gross and unfair to pass statements like that over a movie that you may not have watched yet… specially when R. Balki the director has done an amazing job for a first movie.
The trouble with people like Mainak is their personal frustration which they hide behind loud mouthedness. If seeing foreign films by the dozens a week is barometer of how much they know of films.. then the usher in the theatre should be the honored guest of this forum..
Abbe mithai chakhne se kya halwai ban jayega pappu??
( Does simply tasting puddings make you a confectioner?)
[Admin Note: no personal attacks are allowed on PFC.
apni hudd me reh..jab bade baat karte hain toh chhote bachche chup se sunne ka ..kya?]Agree with most of the article.1 point though.About the flaws that t! has pointed out,i guess that maybe it was to show the perfectionist nature of Amitabh’s character.
Woow… aman, dude! This is a public platform man. Mainak is totally entitled to what he thinks. Maybe he judged too early and am sure he will be the first to revert his stance if he likes the movie but boss, that’s a little too far.
I know these guys and so does mainak. If by “bade log” (big people) you mean t! and Oz, then man, they are far from thinking like that.
Let’s not go there aman, its better that way.
Ravptor man.. you got me wrong..
‘bade log’ means ‘adults’ in my dictionary and in this context. Words are strangely a great clue as to the age (mental) of people..cuts both ways, recognises adults and also those yet to reach voting age ..
As for ‘public’ platform..then boss apun bhi public hai aur public SAB jaanti hai.. kaun kitne paani mein hai bandhu..
Mainak ought to slow down a little and put on the humble learning act! bahut bolta hai yaar!!
Mainak – infact I find your reaction quite over the top….or is that? That
In response to the comments, Mainak is a personal friend whose opinions on movies and politics I greatly respect, even though our views of movies are sometimes very different.
And, he is right about the promos looking boring and cliche, which is why this movie was such an unexpected surprise – it was anything but boring and cliche.
An even bigger surprise was Amitabh NOT hamming it up, but really acting. It is one of the few nuanced performances I have seen from him.
But, Black Friday is not a movie that has wide appeal to a world-wide audience. It may someday find international fans among those who love world cinema, especially those who are somewhat knowledgeable about India itself, but it is not a movie that can be appreciated by the average movie watcher – it is too difficult and to tied-into the historic events that spawned the book and movie – not something the average non-Indian can get their heads around.
The average film watcher here in America doesn’t understand most French films, has no motivation to watch Korean film, and lets face it, finds even English films too foreign for their tastes. Cheeni Kum is the rare international film that has all the elements to be a cross-over hit. It may not be ground-breaking cinema, but it is accessible, enjoyable and entertaining and has all the necessary elements to appeal to the average movie watcher.
And, part of the reason IS the subtlety of this film. Because this film is not over the top, over acted, overly done, it is quite a different type of mainstream film than I am used to seeing from India, and a film that I know my mother, sister, and co-workers (none of whom are serious film watchers) would enjoy as much as I did.
t!, now you making me get out on my looooong weekend to watch this one. Dyaam!
Aman, man, Mainak is passionate about his cinema. He loves it, worked hard in it and knows a thing or two about it. Let him go on man, he’s like that ‘only’ and everyone who knows him loves him for that!
Ravptor man.. the dude ought to learn to take it as good as he gives ! Most of us are like that only..
Disrespect for all n sundry is a mark of an egotistical maniac not a passionate student of cinema. ” A thing or two’ equals three at best.. and thats not even passing grade buddy!
A boy still in knickers can debate but should know when to stop. This dude talks as if he concocted the word ‘film’.
Mainak ..stop crying now and writing angst ridden mails for help..to ban me.
If thats what you want Ill go bro.. but you oughta watch out. Achievers reach where they have by making films not merely seeing them..So stop making excuses and get on with it..
Cool it brother Aman…I understand what you mean though, but I think you are being unfairly harsh on mainak, as he has been on the film. And, BTW, great review, t!
t!
I think international films are not for average film goers anyways. Average film goers dont watch films with subtitles. People who do are the passionate ones. Hence they are a little more refined film audience. Hence when it comes to foriegn films doing well the quality is always great. Why? Because it is filtered. We don’t see the hundreds of really really bad violent Korean horror films. We dont see bad films of others countries much. Why because it is filtered. When it comes to America we have access to everything. Thats why it is so criticised. Imagine if we only knew about good indie films? We would have a different opinion about it totally.
Aman
I don’t understand why you are so pissed with me man? When did I cry about banning you? If you knew me, you would never say that. And t! is a good friend of mine. She can get pissed at me & say whatever she wants to(she won’t) I will be fine with it. How can you comment that I am not taking it well even before I commented back to t!?
Before you go on again just read what i wrote again. I’ve asked you questions. Not made any remark about you as a person or your intelligence. I only comment on films & try to stay away from mud slinging.
And when I wrote I judged it only by the promo I was being honest & open to crucification by people who loved the film like OZ & he has rightly commented on that. But don’t we all watch promos & decide if the movies will be worth it or not? Isnt that the point of a promo at all? Thats how I felt about SHOOTING AT LOKHANDWALA. OZ would agree on that with me. Because he certainly didnt like that film. Going back to what i was trying to say is that by being honest about not having seen CHEENI KUM I knew i would be ripped apart. Which means i’m more open to being criticised & booed than you give me credit for. I just write whatever I feel. I’m not here to please anyone or offend anyone.
BTW while you guys were getting so heated up about me I watched a really great film – HAPPY ACCIDENTS starring Marisa Tomeii & Vincent D’Onofrio. I love them both. I don’t know where Vincent has dissapeared. This has to be the best & weirdest Time Travel movie ever. One of the sweetest love stories i have seen in a long time. See it to appreciate how many different kinds of concepts can be worked out for making films. I highly reccomend this film.
Ravptor! muchos Gracias!
*****
LAST Film Watched – HAPPY ACCIDENTS(8/10)
Loopsong – Get Innocuous! – LCD SOUNDSYSTEM.
Reading – COLD CALLER – JASON STARR
I was blown by this movie… but not all of it.
Its a great first-film and I’m looking forward to more from Balki.
It started brilliantly – the kitchen montage, AB in full flow, dialogues were smart, humour was witty and the timing was great.
I loved the use of the ‘Cheeni Kum’ leitmotif in the sound through-out the film. Tabu plays her character well but I got tired of her calling Buddha(AB) ‘Ghaas Poos’ all the time. The relationship between Buddha and his mother was also interesting. It was away from cliche and Zohra sehgal at her age delivers such a natural performance.
But an hour into it and I was as disappointed as a kid who’s just dropped his ice-cream. And the primary reason for that is another kid and this kid is called sexy!
Her relationship with Buddhadeb is disturbing. This prepubescent talks/relates to our 64 yr old chef as though they are a couple. Not that I know 9 yr olds, but she seems too smart for her age (Kids these days! AArgh!)… and its unrealistic to see Amitabh and her discuss his relationship difficulties. The kid acts really well.. I can’t take that credit away from her… but her character is superficial. She wants to see ‘A’ movies before she dies and when she does die AB hugs a phallic symbol(from behind) while screaming “Nahin Sexyyyy.. Mujhe Chhhod Ke Mat jaaaaoo(No sexy.. don’t leave me)”. Disturbing eh?
People with bad teeth are also gonna have a tough time watching this… the buck-teeth-waiter’s trip is taken way too many times for his comfort and all those who need braces.. watch out – this is not a first-date movie for you!
The energy the film had during the first half, which was created by the relationship between AB and Tabu just fizzled out when it came to Paresh Rawal.. his character was half-baked and his habit of connecting everything to the game of cricket was regurgitative. Everything this film had working for itself during the first hour or so came crashing down!
A step in the right direction as far as Bollywood is concerned..Its worth a watch.. but people with bad teeth – Beware!
BTW t!, OZ , OM Vijay & anyone from LA OC area are welcome to a rooftop party in Hollywood. Me & my ex room mates are throwing a party tonite. Theres gonna be a lot of people & fun.
There’s gonna be Italian food & cocktails.
Call me for if you guys are interested.
It slipped my mind yesterday. My apologies. I know its very short notice. It would be great to see you guys.
*****
LAST Film Watched – HAPPY ACCIDENTS(8/10)
Loopsong – Get Innocuous! – LCD SOUNDSYSTEM.
Reading – COLD CALLER – JASON STARR
For more on Zora Sehgal
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0782247/
t! i am surprised you havent heard of her…
She is a well known actress – a lot of arthouse films and several bollywood blockbusters…
Regards, JMD – Manan Singh KATOHORA
“one of my comments was not allowed to go through as well”
that happens when you use words that are caught by the spam blocker. in this case i see no comments from you blocked by the spam filter. can you be more specific?
I wrote in simple English like all of my other comments..No untoward words used.
But if these guys consider ‘badelog and bacchon” as words to be written over (refer comment #5) then what can one say of such a prejudiced censorship!!
Thanks for the good review T. The film better be good now. Yes the promos didnt look to exiciting to me.. But will catch the movie soon thanks to ur thumbs up :-)
—————————
LAST Film Watched – Pitamaghan(Tamil 7/10)
Loopsong – Innisai – (Tamil – film Godfather)
Reading – Nothing as of now. OUCH!!!
@aman…
i thought the admin note also shows the reason for the strike out, ‘no personal attacks on PFC’
that end dialogue was a personal attack dude. and so struck out.
these rules are applicable for everyone. i have seen authors on the site being struck out cuz of some silly snide remark.
@aman
[edited by admin: personal attack]
now if i were to leave it as it is, i think it would be marked off as spam/troll etc, because i am getting personal about you with the intent of offending you…
now that doesnt mean that you ’slept’ with the admins (of course preceded by ‘wine and cheese’)
besides the point about bachelog bade log was that you were commenting on the person’s(Mainak’s) intelligence (or the lack of it in your POV) and getting personal with him…
You have your views on Mainak’s supposed arrogance or whatever, but HOW DOES IT MATTER??? at the end of the day discuss movies and thats it, finished off…how does one person’s attitude matter as long as that is not movie related…i mean as long as one person is purely criticizing the movie for what it was in his perspective IN HIS OWN MANNER, how does the very perspective matter…get into an argument (or skip the comment) regarding that perspective ABOUT THE MOVIE. of course, i am not talking 2 u about movies at the moment, but still, hope u get the point…
also Aman whatever i have said here(the 1st para ONLY), i dint mean any of it… i just wanted to prove a point…in case you did mind it…apologies
and also on the overall matter, aman aman chain (peace aman)
= Just landed on PFC… to see many fires burning around…
Let’s keep this plain and simple… lets move on before we start banning people around and I have no energy (too much vodka last night) to edit 100 odd comments.
@ oz – Thanks for your comment/help.
@ Monica – I may be lucky to be able to see Indian films when they open here, but the trade off is that you get to see all the South American first-run films that I don’t! And, I just had an idea about the two of us writing a post together, will email you tomorrow!
AM, I feel dirty after reading your comment. Dirty because, I didn’t see the death scene the way that you did, but now that you point it out, um , yech.
Sexy was precocious, maybe too much so, but I appreciated the restraint of the character. The character used age appropriate words, and at nine-years old is the perfect age to be the granddaughter figure to the Buddasev character – any older and the relationship would be truly creepy, any younger it would have been both improbable and creepy. Many children are truly that smart at that age, but don’t show it except to trusted adults. I was willing to accept the fact that she was one of those children.
There have been arguments here on PFC about suspending belief for the sake of a film, and here is one place where I was willing to suspend it because the character was likeable enough and just close enough to reality that I could easily do so…
@ Manon – I only saw my first Bollywood film less than three years ago, and have only been seriously watching Indian film for little over a year. I still have a lot to see and a lot to learn ;)
@ Ravptor & KK – Interested in hearing what the two of you think of the film…
Last movie watched: Cheeni Kum
Listening to: NPR
Reading: Granta
This trully was a great romantic comedy, i’m liking the fresh cinema we are getting to see. Thumbs up from me!
i saw “cheeni kum” yesterday; i dinnae wanted to watch it, but had to. i found the film just okay – nothing special. i did like the bluntness in each key characters, however, i found all those characters to be 1D – in fact, the all key characters seemed like one character – One mind but three different faces – it was very mono – the film seemed like ONE big scene. i don’t know if that is a good thing or a bad thing, but did not like it in this case.
you know, a dish should/would have varied texture and tastes, but this dish did not…, imo. if it was a dessert, then i prefer it to be very sweet.
after reading so many in-depth analysis of films on pfc, i also started looking films with a small magnifying glass, and i spotted something…
i dinnae know that we have a broad daylight after midnight in summer… because a couple of scenes in “cheeni kum” were supposed to be after mid-night scenes but it were done in morning or in daylight.. for example, just after the Menu Change/Chicken Special or that ice-cream scene… no? perhaps that could not shoot at night in london?
Liked it for performances and dialogues, din’t like girl’s track very much (AM has expressed what I wanted to say !)