This is my first timer in reviewing a movie. Some edits and improvisations will eventually follow.
The film-'Chef' opens to a brief
introduction of the protagonist’s (Saif as Roshan) childhood which shows that he was interested
to learn cooking different cuisines and would frequently learn from a kind
gentleman near his home. As usual, young Roshan's father disliked the concept of his
son cooking food and would rather prefer to make him an engineer instead, which
made him run away from home.
Fast forward to the present day
and we see the chef as an arrogant individual who can’t digest any criticism
about his cooking from a customer and ends up bashing him, ultimately
landing up behind bars only to be rescued on bail by his partner cum
friend. However, he is soon fired from the restaurant by his friend.
Roshan has a hi-bye relationship
with his near teenage son back in Cochin-India, who is eager that his father
come and to see him perform on stage in school. However, upon insistence and a
good sense-uploading about an ideal father-son relationship from his ex-colleague,
he lands up in India to be with his son.
We then see Roshan, a father,
trying to do a decent job by being a modern dad and aligning well with his
ex-wife-Radha, a trained classical dancer. We see him gradually opening out
with his son at the boat picnic when he gets fooled by his son into jumping in
the water as the kid makes him jealous by mentioning a certain Viju Uncle’s,(Milind
Soman), close to Radha.
His son does not know what ‘Cholle
Bhature’ the famous food item is, which gets the chef surprised and ultimately,
we see the father-son duo visiting Amritsar and around to relieve the times gone
by, of course, eating the ‘Cholle Bhature’.
The kid then visits his ailing
grandfather who shares a strained relationship with Roshan for following his
passion.
The bond strengthens between the
father-son as they roam around, where the kid learns about his father’s passion
about cooking practically with local cuisines.
Fast forward, we see Roshan
meeting Biju, on the latter’s request, pre-assuming that his ex-wife and Biju
are planning to get married but instead, is shown the host’s vintage car
collection gradually getting himself irritated and then angry.
Yes, angry,
because Biju gives him an offer to start a mobile restaurant on a dilapidated
bus which he can’t digest as he is used to a fat paycheck and a professional
touch and storms out.
What follows after is a heated
argument between Radha and Roshan, who believes that he has still that ‘thing’
to help him find another great job.
This sets him into some soul-searching
about his passion, interests and his
priorities that ultimately form the remaining part of the story.
Chef Roshan is very ethical and
professional when it comes to cooking and occasionally teaching son about it
along with the practicalities of life. Vice-Versa, He learns a thing or a two
about the power of social media from the kid that eventually helps him out
somewhere or the other.
Saif has put on a slightly
different role here portraying a life of a chef and coming to terms with
himself and establishing a bond with his son and someone else as well. Guess
who!
The movie is definitely a one-time
watch on a lazy weekend for those who want to see Saif performing a different
character.
