I am a big fan of culinary movies; I can't say is this my love for cooking or eating. One thing that fascinated me in these movies is the way they shoot lead character's love for cooking. And now, The Hundred Foot Journey joins the list of my favourite movies.
The movie starts in the streets of India but ends in a small town in France. It's the journey of a boy named Hasan and his family. It's about Hasan's transformation from a cook to a chef. It's about Indian and French foods. It's about knowing your passion and moving ahead with that. It's about the love for foods.
When I saw the promo of the movie, I decided then and there to watch it. Firstly, it's culinary movie. Secondly, it has Helen Mirren and Om Puri in the lead. Thirdly, it would be a perfect amalgamation of French and Indian foods. Thankfully, I stood on my decision.
This movie is a perfect adaptation of novel, with the same name. The cast and their selection is perfect. Every cast, lead and supporting, has done justice to their characters. The cinematographer has done complete justice to the countryside of a small town in France through his lenses. The scriptwriter and dialogue writer has made sure that they give a touch of France and India in the dialogues and scripts. Not for a moment you would feel that there is an imbalance in script. I was wondering whether I am watching an Indian movie with Hollywood stars or Hollywood movie with Indian stars.
Hasan Haji, along with his family, shifts from India to UK and then immigrates to Europe with a hope to settle somewhere. Whilst on their way, their fate brought them to a small town in France. Hasan's father (Om Puri) decides to buy an old restaurant in the outskirts of the town, which is opposite to the one and only good restaurant in the entire area. This famous hotel is run by Madame Mallory (Helen Mirren). She certainly isn't happy with them coming and entering into the business. The fight between both, Om and Helen, starts.
Hasan realizes that if Madame Mallory is the master in the business, whereas he is just a cook. If he gets a chance to learn from her, his career will shine. On the other hand, Madame Mallory wants to increase the credibility of her restaurant by getting best reviews by the critics. During the fight, they both found the need of each other and settle on a deal. They both achieved what they wanted and Hasan moved to Paris.
It is there when he came to know that it's French cooking that he has love for. His love lies in cooking for family and for Indian foods. He returns back where his heart and love lies.
While coming out of the movie theatre, I was only thinking if I am doing what I am passionate about? Do we all understand what the true meaning of 'passion'? Unfortunately, we don't. Success lies in things that we are passionate about. Rest, we do only for the sake of it. Enjoy the movie!
