This film about a large
age difference between a man and a woman in love would have been done in
90-minutes in Hollywood but this is Bollywood and they stretch it to 140-minutes.
But for me, spending an extra hour with Amitabh Bachchan and Tabu was not
a hardship. Watching them work together was a pleasure. They bounce off each
other to charming effect. Two people not looking for love but when it comes
like a sneak thief in the night, they accept it graciously. No heart-beating
romance - just two people who become comfortable with one another and realize
they want to be together. Age? Well yes. It plays its role. If it were any
actors but Bachchan and Tabu it might feel a little icky but she is so serene
and good-humored and he is so energetic and full of himself that it would
be hard to understand how she wouldn't fall in love with him. He is
64 in the film and she is 34. Both never married. But are kind of made for
one another.
Bachchan devours his role as an egotistical irascible chef of the top Indian
restaurant in London like a good mutton curry. Everything has to be perfect
and he is not a patient man with his staff. One evening a dish is returned
to the kitchen as being too sweet. He marches out to the table with two women
at it and gives them a huge dose of sarcasm. Maybe you could tell me how
to cook it. Maybe you can call your mother in India to show you. They both
get up and walk out. The following day the waiter comes in again with the
same dish - he tastes it and says its perfect - who is daring to return it.
No sir, she is giving it to us from her kitchen. It is Tabu of course in
a flowing sari. He sets out to court her. Without much hesitation, she accepts
him.
There is next to no drama in the film other than a six year old girl who
lives next to him and has cancer. Her role was to be adorable and bring out
the tears. At one point she demands that he bring her some grown-up dvds
to watch. He brings her Kill Bill. His elderly mother is played by the wonderful
Zohra Sehgal who you have almost certainly seen in either Bollywood films
or Western TV or films in such as Bend It Like Beckham, Bhaji on the Beach,
The Vengeance of She and four episodes of Dr. Who back in 1964. Born in 1912
and passed in 2014. She is a kick in the head. The comedy perks up when he
has to go to Delhi and tell the cricket crazy father (Paresh Rawal) that
he is marrying his daughter. Not an easy task when you are six years older
than he is. The father refuses him. It is a mellow film with lots of sightseeing
in London and a few tunes thrown in. No dancing thankfully from our pair.
I only wish I had some samosas to go with it.
