Masand's verdict: Cheeni Kum

SUGAR-FREE ROMANCE: The chemistry between Big B and Tabu is the film's saving grace.

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Keywords: Amitabh Bachchan, Cheeni Kum

Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Tabu, Paresh Rawal

Direction: R Balakrishnan

In ad-man R Balki's debut feature film Cheeni Kum, Amitabh Bachchan plays a chef and the owner of the finest Indian restaurant in London.

He starts off on the wrong foot with Tabu, a tourist from India and a patron at his restaurant one night, but over the course of many dates, the couple decides to get married.

Bachchan, whose character in the film's named Buddhadev Gupta is 64, while Tabu's character is 34.

Naturally that's bound to raise a few eyebrows, especially those of Tabu's dad, played by Paresh Rawal who reacts rather dramatically to say the least.

But can you blame him, the boy her daughter's brought home to marry is six years older than he is!

First things first, I think it's great that someone decided to make a film with food as a backdrop.

Hindi movies have rarely used food and chefs and restaurants as themes, and it's a pity because food is something that everyone loves so you know you've got everyone's attention from the start.

To digress just a little bit, you must watch one of Ang Lee's earliest films - Eat Drink Man Woman which is a beautiful film about how a father uses food to keep his family together.

Getting back to Cheeni Kum, I like the manner in which the director establishes his characters right up front, without wasting any time.

We get right away that Buddha is a man who takes great pride in his profession, his restaurant is pretty much his life, and he doesn't compromise on anything when it comes to the quality of the food he serves.

We also understand that in Tabu, he's met his match. She's warm and friendly, yes, but she's also opinionated and she knows how to put him in his place.

The director also easily establishes the relationship Buddha shares with his mum, the feisty and quick-witted Zohra Sehgal with whom he's constantly but affectionately bickering.

I think I can also understand and appreciate the relationship the director sets up between Buddha and his six-year-old neighbour, the only female who seems to truly understand him.

Now the thing is, this track could have been clever and engaging, but it doesn't quite end up that way because the child actor in that role is irritating and precocious and I don't know about you but I don't take easily to kids who behave like adults - kids should be kids.

My other problem with Cheeni Kum is the character of Paresh Rawal who comes off as such a cliché, which in all honesty may not have been so difficult to digest in another film.

But in a picture like this where every other character seems broad-minded and unconventional, did we really need Paresh to be such an old-school Bollywood stereotype?