I never knew that someone made movies. I thought they just got made,\u201d says Raja Krishna Menon, a day before the release of Chef. The Saif Ali Khan-starrer,
\ndirected by Menon, is a remake of Jon Favreau\u2019s 2014 drama with the director in the eponymous role. \u201cI remember seeing the film (Chef) when it released and I
\ncame out of the theatre lamenting over why I didn\u2019t think of this idea. The film resonated with me so much. It was a reflection of our times and tides,\u201d says Menon.<\/p>\n
With Chef, Menon is juggling the pressures and expectations that come along with adapting a cult hit \u2014 the story of a chef in his 40s who quits his job post a
\nwar of words with a food critic and returns to his hometown to fix up a food truck. He reconnects with his ex-wife and invites their young son to join him in
\ndriving the truck back while selling food in various cities along the way. It was the real world feel of the film that had him hooked, instead of the commercial
\nviability of a formula that had worked. In the Indian version, the lead protagonist, played by Saif Ali Khan, is named Roshan Kalra. \u201cThe current generation in
\nour mid-30s and 40s is the one that really could take the off-beaten track and choose a career outside the gamut of medicine-engineering-civil services. They
\nare dealing with real life problems \u2014 divorce, single parenting and breaking societal norms. In addition, this generation was also redefining success \u2014 and
\nasserting that it was not all about the money,\u201d says 46-year-old Menon.<\/p>\n
Menon was also very keen on casting a strong female character, which has manifested as Radha Menon, essayed by Padmapriya Janakira- man. She plays Khan\u2019s
\nex-wife in the film. \u201cI had always wanted to create a character of a woman who is fiercely independent, not bothered about society \u2013 doesn\u2019t care about
\nmarriage or divorce and lives life on her own,\u201d adds Menon, who has also included dialogues heavily influenced by pop culture, with Tinder and DNA tests making
\nan appearance. \u201cWe wanted to keep it that way, and make comedy that is relatable and real. Like how, maybe, colleagues talk at a workplace. These are not<\/p>\n
one liners that you have to work hard towards. And this is Saif in a \u2018throwback to Dil Chahta Hai\u2019 mode,\u201d says Menon.
\nchef, chef release, chef director, saif ali khan, chef saif ali khan, Raja Krishna Menon, Jon Favreau, Padmapriya Janakira, Dil Chahta Hai, kareena kapoor Saif Ali
\nMenon has brought Chef from Los Angeles and Miami and based it in Delhi and Kerala, the latter being Menon\u2019s homeground. \u201cIt was an organic choice. A film
\nwill tell you where it should be set. But it did help, for knowing the location like the back of your hand can do wonders. I am a Malayali, Suresh Nair, who wrote
\nthe film, is a Malayali, and Ritesh Shah, the writer, has spent so much time there that we have given him an honorary membership of the state,\u201d says Menon,
\nwhose last successful outing was Airlift with Akshay Kumar in the lead role.<\/p>\n
Menon\u2019s earlier films have been a mixed bag, where he has brushed the territory of commercial and indie cinema. He made his debut with the urbane and slick
\nBas Yun Hi which was followed by Barah Aana (2009). With Airlift (2016), Menon churned out a big hit. \u201cOne has to keep pushing the envelope. With a film like
\nBarah Aana, I did too much too early. I don\u2019t think the audience was ready for it. But with an Akshay in Airlift, I went about using the star as an actor, which
\nworked for me. We didn\u2019t use his strengths as a star. There was no action, or comedy. But the star power definitely helps, people sit up and notice your film.
\nIt\u2019s a simple choice \u2014 which side of the toast do you want to butter up?\u201d says Menon, for whom filmmaking was a matter of chance. \u201cI was all geared up to be a
\nbike mechanic,\u201d says Menon, who has had back-to-back screenings, the last one being one where Kareena Kapoor Khan was in attendance and who, in his words,
\nloved the film.\u201d
\nIt\u2019s difficult to place a finger on the cinematic sensibilities of Menon. They are a bit all over the place.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I never knew that someone made movies. I thought they just got made,\u201d says Raja Krishna Menon, a day before the release of Chef. The Saif Ali Khan-starrer, directed by Menon, is a remake of Jon Favreau\u2019s 2014 drama with the director in the eponymous role. \u201cI remember seeing the film (Chef) when it released […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6959,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6958"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6958\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6960,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6958\/revisions\/6960"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}