Director: Raja Krishna Menon
Genre: Drama
Duration: 2 hours 13 minutes
Rating: 3.5 stars
Raja Krishna Menon's 'Chef' starring Saif Ali Khan in a lead role is the remake of Hollywood actor Jon Favreau's much-loved 2014 movie with the same name. The movie is about a divorced father who reinvents his relationship with his son.
STORY: The film starts off with a middle-aged Roshan Kalra (Saif Ali Khan) punching a customer on his face after the latter passed a few callous remarks about his cooking. He then lands in a lock up only to get a bail and later get fired by his restaurant owner. Roshan is then left with no option but to go back to Cochin, where his estranged wife Radha (Padmapriya Janakiraman) and teenage son Arman whom everyone fondly calls Arry (Svar Kamble) live. After learning that Roshan is fired from job, his ex wife Radha and Biju(Milind Soman) come with a business plan for Roshan and what happens next forms the rest of Chef.
Roshan then starts a journey of self-discovery as a father who realises that his family is the biggest asset and not any job in a five-star hotel.
Acting: Saif Ali Khan is in a brilliant form, be it as a hot-headed chef working in London, who punches his customer when he gives a negative feedback about his food or as the caring father who is keen to reinvent his relationship with growing teenage son. Saif pulls off Jon Favreau's role effortlessly and looks stylish especially when he is in New York. Padmapriya who is an award winning superstar of south Indian movies has done her part beautifully, the dusky beauty wins it with her expressions as a single mother. Svar makes a smashing debut as Saif's onscreen son is a teen you can identify with. The boy delivers his performance so naturally that you take him with you after leaving the theatre. Director Raja Menon is known for his casting and it was a delight to see Milind Soman strut around in a lungi in the film, as Biju a rich gentleman and a well-wisher of Radha. Also Chandan Roy Sanyal as Saif's best friend who too leaves his job to join him in Cochin looks fresh and convincing in the movie.
When the remake of Chef was announced, obviously lot of anticipation surfaced around the film, and Raja Menon has given the Hindi remake an emotional touch and has made it culturally sensitive. The north-south mix in the movie doesn't look like an overdose and goes well with the flow.
The film takes you on a fun-filled road trip with food and family as its prime focus. The dialogues are smart and witty and throughout the movie there is a smile on your face. Chef movie is a bit slow & lengthy in the second half but yet it makes a tasty dish for the audienece
Overall Chef is a beautiful tale of a father-son relationship that is well cooked with multiple flavors and is worth a taste!