There is a lot of teasing between the father and son ,played with endearing casualness by Saif Ali Khan and Svar Kamble. Aptly , "Chef" teases our appetite for cinema. It's a culinary delight-warm tender, inviting and appetizing- served up in a dainty dish with a dash of debonair but played-down posturing, like a masterchef who is shy to show off his skills but can't help it. He's so adept at what he does.
"Chef" conveys the kind of sagacious skill born not out of arrogance but wisdom sometimes misplaced.Like the protagonist Roshan Kalra's traditionalist father who believes the kitchen is for women.
Speaking of which -- arrogance more than wisdom -- Saif Ali Khan's Roshan Kalra(from Chandni Chowk Delhi married to and divorced from the lovely Malayali danseuse Radha Menon) is portrayed as an epitome of prideful arrogance waiting to fall.
The fall comes sooner than we expect. Director Menon wastes no time in taking on his protagonist's burnished ego and cutting it down to size, piece by piece.
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Come to think of it, Roshan's downsizing needs no push. Saif Ali Khan's inbuilt nawabi pride and an urbane humour that often hurts others in ways that are more permanent than permissible,seize the character to make it so imminently relatable ,I felt someone had stolen parts of my life.Saif's Roshan says things to earn points as a clever conversationalist. Much like the prestigious Michelin star rating for food which determines quality to the point of rendering the pleasure of food into an exercize in technical grading.
And here's where director Menon and his co-writers Ritesh Shah and Suresh Nair score resoundingly over the original Jon Favreau film. Food, as a cultural binder, is a far more vital metaphor in India than in America. Instinctively, Menon understands the deep and indelible connection between food and family in our culture.
Much in the same way that music binds human relationships, food is great unifier .
The narrative teases the cooking and food into the human relationships without making culinary conceits a fetish in the plot. Food is vital but not in-your-face in Menon's Chef. This director understands the difference between appetites and feelings. He tightens the screw on his protagonist's arrogance whenever Roshan Kalra's failings become the food for his feelings.
This guy, played so intelligently and persuasively by Saif, doesn't know where to stop. Sometimes the banter between Saif's Roshan and those close to him, turns ugly. But that's life. The relationships that govern our existence are not always based on sweetness and positivity.
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