by Yayaati Joshi
[box]Yayaati Joshi discusses the film Today’s Special and says that it is one of those commercial movies that are classified as a B-movie, only because it is made on a low budget. It’s a well-made film, he explains, but has remained that sort of a movie that goes unnoticed, because of the general lack of appreciation for such B-films.[/box]In discussions about films, I often find people segregating films into “high art” and “commercial”. I myself have, at times, for the sake of an argument, done so. In the former category, the likes of Godard, Bergman, Ozu, Kubrick are placed, while for mass entertainment you have Speilberg, De Palma, Luc Besson and purely because of the financial grandeur of his films, Christopher Nolan (although it might be of interest to know that Nolan’s first film, called Following, was shot in black and white, which would exactly fit the description of a B-movie, albeit a good one). A large subset of the so-called “commercial” films is the kind of movies that have been made on a low budget, and perhaps that is the only wanting aspect of the film. The direction, the act, the locales, and even the marketing are all A grade. These films, by virtue of their low budget, fall in this B-movie category, and unfortunately, go unnoticed, because of the general lack of appreciation for such films. David Kaplan’s Today’s Special is one such movie. This film appealed to me in more ways than one: the first and most obvious reason why I could relate to it was that this was the story of a Chef, which I once have been. I’ll discuss the second reason shortly.
Today’s Special is about an Indian-American, Samir, who is in the business of professional cooking, but ironically, cannot cook Indian food—thus depriving him of the chance to revive his father’s dying business. Just when he plans to go to Paris, to seek better cooking opportunities, his father has a heart attack, and he is forced to stay back and look after the failing restaurant. At first, he tries to apply his high-brow, Michelin-starred practices amongst the staff members, and soon finds one member getting annoyed and leaving. From there on, things look to go downhill, but Samir finds a taxi driver, who was once a Chef, to help him. This taxi driver (a cameo by Naseeruddin Shah) is a skilled Indian Chef, but as is customary in Indian cooking, does not used weighed and scaled recipes, much to the confusion of Samir. Like The Legend of Bagger Vance, here too, the saviour disappears long before his protégé tastes success, and before leaving gives a word of advice to Samir: “Despair is the solace of fools.” This message, far from traditional culinary wisdom, helps Samir overcome his uptight attitude towards Indian cooking. In a short time, the restaurant which was supposed to be sold, as it was running into losses, becomes an overnight sensation with aficionados and food critics alike. Also, like a traditional Indian movie, in which ending a film on an all-encompassing good note is mandatory, Samir finds the love of his life, in an ex-colleague.
This simple plot is just one of the many things that make this low budget film a joy to watch. There is the usual “outsider perspective” which is shown, in moderation, when Samir’s father feels that he is in a foreign land, far away from his “roots”. But throughout the film, one never quite feels so much at home—there are Kishore Kumar’s songs playing in the background, Indian film posters, Shah’s anecdotes from his cooking days in India. Never have I felt more “Indianness” being gently thrust upon the audience. Like a good cook, who knows that too much masala can spoil the dish, the director here manages a fine balance between referencing and force feeding an idea. The film’s ambling pace is a nice contrast to the time strapped reality television cookery shows that make it seem like cooking is almost a mechanical process, with no room for personally bonding with the process—the kind of cooking that eventually brings fame and success to Samir.
Despite being a fine film, there is no doubt that because of the water tight compartments into which films are nowadays divided, the film is a B-movie. Yet it is of immense pleasure to know that this is a very successful film; almost all critics have found the film to be decent—a notch above the average, passable “feel good” film. At a more personal level, as a closeted writer, it’s very comforting to see an almost independently produced film (it would be quite a Venn Diagram, if one were to draw it—depicting films as commercial, “arty”, “B-films”, “C-films”, and Indie productions), with little fanfare about it, being well received. It further deepens my belief that there is scope for creative works that do not come from mighty brand names—like a self-published book. And for that reason alone,I recommend watching Today’s Special. It will never be the kind of film, the Blu-ray DVD of which will be collected by many people, but it definitely deserves a place on the shelf of someone who is willing to appreciate good films.
Film Freak is an exclusive monthly column by Yayaati Joshi, who, well, is a film freak. It features movie reviews and essays on various aspects of Indian and world cinema.
Yayaati Joshi is a man with simple tastes and intense beliefs. Contrary to the bling associated with the capital city, he prefers the company of close friends, an engaging book or an Alfred Hitchcock movie. His placid demeanour is often mistaken for reticence; Yayaati is a self- proclaimed loner, whose recent pursuits include his foray as a budding writer. Yayaati blogs at http://rantingsofadelusionalmind.wordpress.com
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