Today’s Special is a movie about the restaurant business, more specifically an Indian restaurant owned by the main character’s Dad. The movie starts out with the main character Samir working in the kitchen of what seems to be a very high-end restaurant. This entire scene was used for two main reasons. Most importantly, it introduced Samir as ambitious and stubborn. The scene showed him working very hard as he was leading the other cooks because he wanted to be the head chef at the new restaurant when it opened. When he didn’t get the promotion he thought he deserved, he quit. The scene also introduced Carrie, as a cook working under Samir, who was new to the restaurant. She was kind to Samir even though they got off on somewhat of a wrong foot. After Samir quit, he told his parents he was going to go overseas to study under some of the best chefs in the world. He was met with resistance from his Dad who was introduced as an angry, stubborn man who was disappointed in his son. For some context, Samir’s brother had died some time ago, and Samir hadn’t taken the path of being a doctor like his Dad wanted him to do. His Dad had a heart attack and could no longer run his Indian restaurant which was already not doing very well. Samir was left with no choice but to take over for his Dad. The majority of the movie showed Samir breathing new life into the restaurant with the help of a taxi driver named Akbar, and Carrie from the old restaurant, who he ran into on the street. While there were several struggles along the way, they eventually managed to save the restaurant and it became the most popular Indian restaurant in the city. It ended with his Dad being very proud of what he had done, as well as his parents meeting Carrie, with who he had now developed a romantic relationship with throughout the process of saving his Dad’s restaurant.
The food itself played a large role in the film, but more from a cultural standpoint. This important role of food was mostly seen through the taxi driver Akbar. Akbar once cooked Indian food in Mumbai and found great success in the process. When Samir brought in Akbar as his chef for a while, business began to improve as people started to complement the food regularly. After about 1 week, Samir asked for Akbar to help out at the restaurant for longer. That led to them having breakfast together in Akbar’s apartment. After talking for a bit, Samir brought up the restaurant, and at 47:14 Akbar abruptly takes charge as they suddenly go to the store to purchase ingredients. Akbar’s go with the flow personality really shows here as he says things like “… Coriander seed, like a young girl walking through a lemon grove by the sea…”(47:40). Then, when they get back to the restaurant, Akbar begins cooking without a recipe. He goes based on feel rather than being strict with ingredients and how much to put in. At the end of the film Akbar leaves, and Samir does the cooking. Samir went off feeling rather than a recipe even though it was very difficult for him to do. It ended up working out well for him considering that his recipe made his Dad proud, and satisfied the likely hundreds of people waiting in line outside the doors. This growth in Samir showed the results of another theme.
Samir was very set in his ways in the sense that he pretty much couldn’t cook at all unless he had a recipe. On the other hand, Akbar was the polar opposite. Akbar didn’t use a recipe at all. Akbar and Samir were both passionate about food but in different ways. Samir valued it as a means to making something of himself as seen at the beginning of the film when he didn’t get the promotion he wanted. Akbar had no concern with the professional side of cooking. Instead, he simply enjoyed cooking, and he let his passion for cooking take control. As with most things, the food was better when it was made with passion rather than necessity. Samir’s Dad was also very stubborn. He had made the Indian restaurant himself and that was how he supported his family instead of his dream of being a doctor. He wanted nothing more than for his sons to be a doctor or something similar since he didn’t have the opportunity. Since Samir was into cooking and quit his job, it is no surprise that his Dad was upset with him(18:52). It is clear that Samir inherited his stubborn personality from his Dad. They clearly clashed often as was shown throughout the film. Fortunately, this conflict was resolved at the end of the movie as Samir stepped up to save his Dad’s restaurant and his Dad finally appreciated his cooking(1:31:32). Samir’s progression was shown even more so right before this as he cooked with no recipe for the first time. This brought to a close the storyline between him and Akbar.
The last major theme in Today’s Special was family. This is primarily seen through the lens of Samir’s relationship with his Dad. As mentioned previously, they were at odds with each other just about all the way through the film. At around the one-and-a-half-hour mark, their conflict is resolved and it shows them hugging for the first time in the film. This demonstrates while we may be at odds with family sometimes, they always love us. Everyone has their own way to express their love, but family will always be there. Additionally, Samir’s Mom contributed to this theme. Where his Dad was concerned with Samir’s career, his Mom was concerned with his relationships. She was trying to play matchmaker and find him a wife as seen at 14:17. Samir was clearly uninterested in the idea as a whole, so while he went on dates to appease his Mom, he didn’t seem to take having a family of his own very seriously. However, throughout the second half of the film, Samir became closer with Carrie as they worked in the restaurant(1:12:20). They slowly grow closer and kiss at one point. In the end, she worked as Samir’s Sue chef. When his parents came into the now revived restaurant, his Mom was introduced to Carrie, and she accepted her when she saw her relationship with Samir. The ending was extremely fitting for this movie as it brought virtually all storylines to a fitting close.
I really enjoyed this film. It took a little getting used to as I don’t normally watch films centered around food. That being said the storylines were satisfying enough to warrant it having less action than the movies that I normally enjoy. It was a nice change of pace, and I would recommend it if someone were to ask about it. The film didn’t have any weaknesses that I noticed and its main strength was the way that the ending brought everything together.
Refrences
Kaplan, David. (Director). (2009). Today’s Special [Film]. Production Company.