User Reviews

This movie is pure fiction. It has been shot like a documentary to make the audience feel that it's real. I don't think I can express my frustration and anger when half way through the movie I realized that the director has used the documentary style to probably cheat the audience in to watching this movie. Maharashtrian cuisine is simple and less know but has its charm and appeal to the locals hailing that part of India including me. This is probably the first attempt made to bring awareness about Marathi cuisine or at least that's what this movie makes you think but after finding out that this whole story narrated about the chef sticking to his roots and going out of his way to realize his dream is not real, this feels more like an insult to the cuisine. The director has gone out of his way to make the movie feel like a documentary with critics interviews, reviews, customers comments, characters with story lines, timeline...although everything shown in the movie, as mentioned above, is a fiction. I love fiction but what make this fiction wrong is it is not shown like a typical movie about a chef (like "Today's Special" starring Asif Mandvi & Naseeruddin Shah) but rather the attempt to make it feel like a documentary knowing that everything being shown is entirely FAKE. I feel sick just thinking about people watching this movie and finding out that this is just a fiction. This would have made an excellent fiction movie but it is not and that is such a shame and a lost opportunity to bring awareness about the Marathi cuisine.

I was very excited to watch this documentary being proud of the Marathi heritage and looking forward to see how great the chef did. I watched the entire documentary sometimes thinking the situations were too good to be real , but knowing that documentaries are real life stories I went ahead and really appreciated the work Shashank did. I felt sooooo betrayed by the fact that everything shown in the documentary was fictitious. It was such a waste of time. Had the writers put in this amount of efforts in starting an actual restaurant it would have been an effort worth while.

Like most other reviewers here, as a Maharashtrian, whose culinary identity is Marathi cuisine, whatever this documentary/film portrays, is completely disappointing. The trailer seemed promising and I too, like many other disappointed reviewers here, was mesmerised by the Michelin-like presentation of Marathi cuisine. But 20 mins into the content, you realise that this was a confused and rushed recipe. The heart is in the right place but the execution falls flat.

I think the creators want to convey the essence of Marathi cuisine and the philosophy behind it but they could have went into a conventional drama genre rather than this -documentary genre. You can't adopt a documentary style device to tell a fictional story, no matter how good you feel about your story. It is deceiving your audience completely.

So even if the protagonist triumphs at the end, the victory feels hollow as it didn't mean anything in the real world, the creators tried to convey. If you want to tell such a story, Jon Favreau's 'Chef' from 2014 is a great template. The protagonist in the film goes through a similar arc only to triumph at the end with what he knows is innate to him.

The creators wanted to honour and highlight Marathi cuisine, which could have been done in a much better way. I signed up for IMDB just to post this review, this is how much disappointing this film/documentary, whatever it is.

Fake restaurant.. fake story. How can one make a documentary on fake story. Height of fakeness. Heard about fake news now we have fake documentry. Being a Marathi person I was excited but when I learned that it is fake I felt cheated . Director of this fake documentry should be sued. HATE IT. TOTALLY WASTE.

The official definition of "Documentary" isa narrative based on documented evidence of facts. The makers of this "Documentary" violate this basic tenet. The entire story of the chef, his journey, his wife, his passion, his restaurant is FAKE. I understand the noble intentions of the filmmaker(s) but there can be many more "authentic" ways of showcasing this incredible cuisine instead ofweaving a fantanstical tale of lies to get the point across. I was invested in the film in the first 15 minutes (disclaimer: I am a Maharashtrian and the cuisine that this film showcases is something I grew up eating - 3 times a day for decades - and hence is very dear to me) but as it progressed, it started to feel fake and "too good to be true". After a google search, it was evident that the story is fake. I totally get that the makers want to make a point that this cuisine can also rival other Indian cuisines that are more popular in typical Indian restaurants. Where I take objection is, they could have given a disclaimer at the outset that the entire tale and the people are a fabrication. Bottomline: this cuisine did not deserve this fake story.

Failed experiment to make this so called fictional documentary. Not what a Maharashtrian would expect to watch. Efforts could have been put in to open a restaurant rather than making this film. Utter DISAPPOINTMENT.