I don't remember when I first heard of this movie, but for
whatever reason it eluded me until Asianet finally decided to play it again (or
was it the first time on TV?) on Sunday, Jan 6th. I guess the fact that this
was one of the legendary Thilakan's last movies or this was one of Dulquer
Salman's (Mammootty's son) first few movies played large in keeping the name
'Ustad Hotel' right on the top of my 'to watch list' of Malayalam movies. And I
wasn't disappointed with the wait, the Dum Malabari Biriyani turned out to be
well worth the wait for it.
The movie itself is a sweet, no-frills, bittersweet romantic
one. The script is relatively uncomplicated and the pace is quite nice, not too
slow nor too fast given the genre of the movie. The story primarily deals with
Faisi's (played by Dulquer) love for cooking, his fall out with his father who
wants him to be a businessman and how this leads to Faisi discovering his
grandfather (Karim ka played by Thilakan) and the eponymous 'Ustad Hotel' in
Kozhikode.
As the name suggests food is an overarching theme in this
movie and the love for it pretty much forms the basis on which the story
revolves around. Looking back though, I can't help but wonder if this movie had
shed its entire commercial angle and focused more on the food, whether it would
have seen the commercial success it did. If a gutsy filmmaker had taken this
script and made it more about the grandson's and the grandfather's common love
for good food and dared to make an entire movie with this subject, now that
would've made this movie all the more interesting for me to watch.
In any case, the movie as it is today manages to strike the
right balance between the love for food and the other necessary commercial
elements such as the token love story between Faisi and Shahana (played
wonderfully well by Nithya Menen who remains enigmatically beautiful to me
whenever I catch her on TV). Shahana’s character is also used by the director
to portray an extremely forward-looking modern Muslim girl who is actually a
lead singer of a Fusion Band in the movie. She comes across as an extremely
self-confident, spunky leading lady who is quite clear on what she wants from
her life and what needs to be done to grab her dreams.
The movie in my opinion does take some unnecessary detours
into Ustad Hotel trying to be acquired by an unscrupulous business tycoon who
wants to expand his existing Five Star property on the beachfront, etc. But
then, these script elements were necessary to keep the movie moving from a
commercial angle I guess.
To conclude, I would rate Ustad Hotel reasonably high and
would recommend it, especially for people who love food, love their
grandfathers (and the accompanying treasure trove of knowledge and wisdom
nuggets) and also for people who like light hearted rom-com movies.
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