Masterchef (2014) User Reviews

Served To A Western Audience

[Theo Robertson · 6/10 · 30 April 2014]

Despite being set in India MASTERCHEF has more than one eye on a Western audience . Truth be told my own experiences in India led me to believe there's only two things the native population consider more important than Shiva or Allah either cricketers or Bollywood film stars . Actually a third one might be Western tourists ready to be ripped off but let's not go there . The idea of a celebrity chef is popular in the West but would be totally unknown in the sub-continent of India and somewhat tellingly the short film MASTERCHEF does make a big deal that it was funded by Bill Gates perhaps the world's greatest living philanthropist . Even the title of the film conjures up TV celebrity chefs something you constantly see on Western television but not in India whose schedules are dedicated to Bollywood movies , female orientated soap operas or cricket matches

The film tells of a story of a shoe shine boy who wants to follow in the footsteps of a celebrity chef . It'd be very easy to compare this short with SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE , of a nobody in India wanting to become a somebody but where as Boyle's multi award winning film was a Western eye view on the mystical nature of India here we see a rather more realist approach and delivery devoid of mysticism and karma and could take place in any city in the world . It's also interesting that the masterchef of the title remains enigmatic and we're given no hint of his physical appearance and the story revolves around the 14 year old protagonist and the message is simple in that God/Shiva/Allah helps those who help themselves and that if you're hit by a set back you pick yourself up , dust yourself down and start all over again

Lets reality hit home but yet hopeful at the same time, delivering a grounded and responsible narrative and not the Hollywood gloss of cliché

[bob the moo · 28 April 2014]

The title credits inform us that this film was partially supported by the foundation of Bill Gates, which straight away tells you the sort of ground we are on. Akhil is one of several children working as shoe- shiners and sleeping rough on the streets, surviving but never more. One of the clients at the shoe-shine spot, he is told, is a celebrity chef from TV – known to the boys as masterchef. Akhil watches his show through a shop window and, knowing his own father was a chef of some sort, aspires that perhaps cooking could be his way out of his situation.

In lesser hands this short film is clear as day – a tale of life in the slums and rising up out of them into a happy ending in a clichéd but ultimately heart-warming conclusion. To its credit the film does not do that. Instead we have the feel of this but it is much more grounded and responsible as a narrative. For the majority of the film it is actually pretty depressing – not because of on-screen events but more just the normal day to day of squalid conditions, hopelessness, survival and general just dead-end town. While we are told this story we never forget that this is Akhil's reality and we are not being shown it because it serves as a contrast for him to rise from, but rather just because it is real and true.

From here the story does go the way we expect with Akhil trying to cook and failing. An encounter with masterchef himself is well done because it doesn't see the boy jump on him and beg for a chance, but instead masterchef reads from the paper about a story of a man called "smiler" due to his happy nature who just kept showing up to work each day, despite the odds against him. This story sets the scene for the final shot which is the perfect place to end the film; some may find that it doesn't provide an "ending" and they are right, it doesn't but instead it provides a synopsis of the reality, which is that although Akhil will fail and fail again, and will almost certainly never become the masterchef that the Hollywood ending would have us believe was possible, he does have his spirit – the same spirit that sees him make it through each day.

The message is clear – these people are no takers and where such a spirit exists it just needs fostering and help, not for each individual to rise to the American dream and one day become President, but rather just to better their conditions to the point where children are not working on the streets at age 6 and families are not sleeping rough earning not even enough to survive. This film delivers that message in a way that is responsible and thoughtful so that the viewer is affected by the reality (there is no fairytale) but inspired by what is possible at the base level.