Saif cooks up quite a fair

Chef

Cast: Saif Ali Khan, Padmapriya Janakiraman, Dhanish Karthik, Dinesh Prabhakar, Chandan Roy Sanyal, Neha Saxena

Rated: 7/10

Saif Ali Khan as chef de cuisine is a cool dude as is this languidly laid out film more on food for thought than food itself. Despite having relationship issues, the film is a platter full of fun that a father and his estranged son have with an ex-wife as the world’s must understanding — and stunning — woman, thrown in for special effects.

Between New York and Kochi, the film takes well-crafted and becoming familial flights, helmed by a totally laidback but obsessively me-myself Saif Ali Khan. He strangely sees reason when his follies are gently pointed out to him but is volatile enough to punch a customer at his NY restaurant when told that his food has become mediocre.

The simplicity with which the film delves into existential issues like divorce, identity crisis, loneliness etc gives it a five-star status. Saif is the best choice for the role he plays — a chic, urban, witty, cosmopolitan man who has gone up the ladder of life with sheer determination steeled as a runaway child who makes it big in life.

He fits into the role as comfortably as the shorts he wears. He is a true to life, you and me kind of character and quite funnily harks on his Goan misadventure with a white woman in his film Dil Chahta Hai (DCH). In fact, his personality in this film is a somewhat grown-up version of his role in DCH.

The film is a gentle, engaging and humorous story which will make you laugh as you introspect about modern life and its post-modern mores and how cool we have become with life after a marriage ends. The kiddo is also cool. Full marks to director Raja Krishna Menon! This one has much more lift than Airlift.

Lives up to expectations

Blade Runner 2049

Cast:  Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford, Ana de Armas, Sylvia Hoeks, Robin Wright, Mackenzie Davis, Carla Juri

Rated: 5.5/10

The prequel was out back in 1982 when many would not have even been born. The only similarity is Harrison Ford, he was in the original Blade Runner that was directed by Ridley Scott and had actors like Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, and Edward James Olmos  as well.

Its sequel takes you to year 2049 where bio-engineered humans called ‘replicants’ have been integrated into society. There are not many sequels made that can justify their existence but this does it rather beautifully.

Fans of Blade Runner will find that this one could not have been possible without Scott’s 1982 version since it draws a lot from the original. But the good is that despite reaching back it does manage to look forward and push the film ahead.

The use of colour, sound and objects, all have created a world that pays homeage to the original. The downer is it is a bit long (2hours 40 minutes) than most Hollywood movies and some of the magic gets lost here as does the plot.

But over all, it is a film that the fans would love. And it goes to show that sequels too can be as great as the original even if they are more than three decades apart.