The latest bollywood release ‘Chef’ starring Saif Ali Khan is the story of a man’s love for food and his son. Roshan K the protagonist of the story is a chef in New York who having arose from the ‘Gullies’ of Chandni Chowk in New Delhi India and achieved the summit of success as a Chef is on a path downhill in his professional as well as personal life. This man in his pursuit of success and fame gets into a vicious circle and drifts apart from his life partner. He claims to love his son most in the world even when he feels tied down by the burdens of his profession, financial obligations etc and not able to spare enough time for him.
OK! I do not wish to turn this post into a movie review or a spoiler post. Instead this post is meant to look at some loud and subtle messages that the movie sends out through its course. I feel these messages are most relevant to the current generation of parents to teenagers or younger kids. Especially for the parents who are in a constant tug of war to strike a balance between their professional and personal lives. While many of them pursue their professional ambitions they run a high risk of losing out on the little joys of parenting and life in general. So here’s the food for thought that I carried out of the movie hall.
Why does a once 25 year old fierce and ready-to-take-on-the-world young struggler, turn into a complacent and ever-complaining-the-system 40 year old?
What is it that makes moving out of one’s comfort zone such a difficult task?
What is the sure shot recipe for Failure? Is it just about lack of Belief in self or is it absence of Perseverance?
In providing our kids all that is necessary to make them happy, do we only fulfill our duty as parents? Or is it that at times this is the best favor we could do unto ourselves?
What does offering help mean? Does it come at the cost of wiping off memories of past and keeping aside one’s ego?
The above trivia if internalized and given some thought is strong enough to help one map a root-cause analysis of the reason for being unhappy in life. And more often than not, one will figure that the solutions to our problems lie within. Or on the contrary, one may just realize that we’ve been carrying a wrong problem all this time and our salvation (or rather happiness) lies in adorning a different quest altogether.
Rarely does one come across such simple manifestation of relationships that are seemingly complex yet the people involved rise above norms and accepted protocol to make the best of what life throws at them. Even at its slow pace, this beautiful account of failing relationships and genuine efforts to restore them does not bore you. Rather it acts as a catalyst to help you introspect and analyse what’s wrong in your own life and what is it that you need to do to put it back on track.
Have you already seen ‘Chef’ the Movie? If yes, share what you thought was the strongest impact the movie made on you.
14 Comments
Haven’t seen the movie yet ? Wonderful review..Would love to see it soon 🙂
Haven’t seen the movie yet but intrigued to watch it. The lessons of life you have mentioned speak volumes about the film.
Great thought, yes spending time with kids is not a favor to them it’s a favor to yourself. It help you to be your inner self and do actually what your heart wants to do. Well drawn points from the movie.
I haven’t watched the movie yet, but would love to as soon as I get a chance. You’ve beautifully presented the storyline to give us a different perspective.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts! I haven’t seen the movie yet but look forward to seeing it soon
I have not seen the movie yet but I intend to watch it soon. It does sound interesting from what you have to say about it.
I was going to give this movie a pass as Saif is not among my favorite actors but your review and the life lessons from the movie made me curious to watch it now. Thanks for sharing this.
Oh wow! Now I’d love to watch the movie… trailers do seem interesting but dint realize it would have such deeper nuances. Thanks!
Have not seen the movie but it’s Hollywood parent is very very nice flick. Your post has given me thoughts to give this Indian Chef a try on this Diwali leaves.
Haven’t watched the movie but those questions have left me intrigued. Your perspectives are very unique and thought provoking
I have not seen it yet but we were planning to watch it soon. Thanks for an honest review. It looks interesting. Surely going to watch it.
Those are some thought-provoking questions. I have seen the original Chef (on which this is based) starring Jon Favreau and I loved it! Hopefully, this one will match the awesome-ness that Chef was. Not sure if they have maintained the same storyline, but I read somewhere that the story was modified to make it more Indian, so I will be able to understand the context of these questions only after I watch it.
I have watched the original movie Chef and I so loved it. Being a foodie I also loved watching all the food in it. I am sure this movie will also be the same.. and the fact that it is based on Indian characters will make it more relatable for sure.
Had no clue about the movie so thanks for sharing. and as for the life lessons u mentioned, i absolutely agree with these. I would love to watch this movie next!