"Today's Special" will be most appealing (appetizing?) to people who love to cook, but anyone who likes Indian food is bound to like it. Aasif Mandvi (the senior Asian correspondent on "The Daily Show") plays an Indian-American sous chef who starts taking an interest in his own culture's cuisine. The movie is half look at South Asian food, half look at Indian-American families (with pushy parents). Naseeruddin Shah's taxi driver/gourmet chef is the funniest character in the movie, the perfect contrast to Mandvi's nervous nice guy.
It's a really fun movie. It was of course impressive to see Madhur Jaffrey - herself a doyenne of Indian cuisine - but another cast member who caught my eye was Kumar Pallana, who died last year. He owned an Indian restaurant in Dallas, and his customers included Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson, who cast him in "Bottle Rocket", "Rushmore", "The Royal Tenenbaums" and "The Darjeeling Limited". Steven Spielberg also gave him a supporting role in "The Terminal".
Anyway, I recommend this movie.
It's a really fun movie. It was of course impressive to see Madhur Jaffrey - herself a doyenne of Indian cuisine - but another cast member who caught my eye was Kumar Pallana, who died last year. He owned an Indian restaurant in Dallas, and his customers included Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson, who cast him in "Bottle Rocket", "Rushmore", "The Royal Tenenbaums" and "The Darjeeling Limited". Steven Spielberg also gave him a supporting role in "The Terminal".
Anyway, I recommend this movie.