FRENCH DOWAGER'S HUNDRED-FOOT JOURNEY TO MAGIC CURRY

MY RATING 7.5/10

You know you're in for a cultural cliché/ Orientalist extravaganza when an Indian protagonist's mother imparts culinary knowledge in the form of a Paulo Coelho-esque quote: “To cook, you must kill. You cook to make ghosts. Spirits that live on in every ingredient.” And then she pours boiling hot gravy in his cupped hand so that he can taste it.  

“The Hundred-Foot Journey” is a truly global movie -- based on a novel by Richard C. Morais, an American raised in Switzerland; directed by Lasse Hallström, a Swede; produced by Steven Spielberg and Oprah Winfrey; starring a quintessentially English actor as a Frenchwoman and is all about the assimilation of an Indian family in a quaint European village.  

Synopsis: An Indian restaurateur and his family flee political violence in Mumbai and decide to set up a kitsch curry joint in southern France, opposite the local Michelin-starred posh bistro. Madame Mallory (Dame Helen Mirren), the widowed owner of 'Le Saule Pleureur', is outraged to have what she considers to be a plebeian fast food joint called 'Maison Mumbai' directly across the street, a hundred feet from her esteemed establishment to be precise. The patriarch (Om Puri) of Kadam family is on a crazy mission to have the staple tandoori this, balti that accepted by the French who have a culinary tradition that is fiercely insular. Can these two feuding cultures be brought together by Hassan (Manish Dayal), the second son of the Kadam family, who is seemingly gifted with 'magic realism'-level inherent culinary talents and taste buds?

There are clichés galore. “If your food is anything like your music, I suggest you turn it down” -- Madame Mallory throws a verbal punch. “You seduce his mind with your awful, tasteless, empty sauces, with your pitiful little squashed bits of garlic!” -- retorts Papa Kadam [and, perhaps inadvertently, reaffirms the stereotype that South Asians can't appreciate subtlety]. We get generous servings of the tired and tried concept: loud, obnoxious person of colour whose sole reason for existence in a book or movie is to assist the too-sophisticated-for-his/her-own-good white person locate that elusive joie de vivre. A trope widely known as the 'magical negro'.

Am I discouraging your from watching this movie?
Absolutely not.
I highly recommend this movie.

Here's why: It's a Lasse Hallström movie. Remember “Chocolat”? Yup. It's food porn at its lush best. If you're a fellow foodie, you'll find yourself -- visibly or on the inside -- gasping, salivating and seduced at the sight of the most vivacious spices being sprinkled or velvety hollandaise sauce shimmering in a pan or the seemingly impeccable stuffed pigeon with truffles being offered on a plate. This movie does recognise South Asian food gradually finding a foothold in a world dictated by Michelin stars. It also effectively addresses the rising xenophobia and hate crime against immigrants in Europe.

Then there's Dame Helen Mirren -- she who can play Batman and still be perfect. And if you're familiar with Om Puri's work, you know this movie has pitted two titans from their respective movie industries against each other. It's a beautiful tango [there's even a scene where these two are dancing with each other].
There's eye candy too -- besides food -- in the form of Charlotte Le Bon.
So yes, do go and watch this movie. It's playing at Star Cineplex.