Om Puri
Audiences will be getting ready to satiate their tastebuds with the big screen adapation of Richard C. Morais’ international best-selling novel The Hundred-Foot Journey. Releasing on Friday 5th September 2014 by Entertainment One UK, The Hundred-Foot Journey is an uplifting and feel-good cultural feast full of Indian spices, French sophistication and British wit.
Directed by Lasse Hallström and produced by Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg and Juliet Blake, the film stars Academy Award winning actress Helen Mirren as the icy proprietress of a Michelin starred classical French eatery in Southern France, veteran Indian film actor Om Puri (East is East, The Reluctant Fundamentalist), Manish Dayal (Law & Order, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Bollywood film Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna) and Canadian-French actress and television personality, Charlotte Le Bon. The screenplay is written by Steven Knight.
This highly-anticipated culinary delight that is The Hundred-Foot Journey also stars a stellar cast of Indian and British Asian actors including Rohan Chand (Jack and Jill), Amit Shah (The Infidel), Farzana Dua Elahe (Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Eastenders). Bollywood actress Juhi Chawla (Gulaab Gang) also features in a cameo role in the film.
A flavour brimming mix of food, passion and heart, The Hundred-Foot Journey is a story of persistence and triumph over exile. The film depicts a gastronomical fusion of cultures and cuisine and a boy’s compassionate drive to find himself in the comfort of a new home in a foreign country.
(L-R) Manish Dayal & Helen Mirren
In the film, Hassan Kadam (Manish Dayal) is a culinary ingénue with the gastronomic equivalent of perfect pitch. When Hassan and his family, led by Papa (Om Puri), move to a quaint village in the South of France with the grand plan of opening an Indian restaurant in the picturesque countryside, they are undeterred by the fact that only 100 feet opposite stands a Michelin starred classical French eatery.
However upon encountering the icy proprietress, Madame Mallory (Helen Mirren), the Kadam family realise they may have bitten off more than they can chew. Outraged by the new arrivals, Madame Mallory is determined to have their business shut down. As cultures clash and food flies, a heated battle escalates between the two establishments – until, that is, Hassan’s passion and talent for French cuisine begin to enchant Madame Mallory and even she can’t deny this young chef could have what it takes to garner even more acclaim for her beloved restaurant.
This, along with his new-found friendship with her beautiful sous chef Marguerite (Charlotte Le Bon), starts to weave a magic between the two cultures and, despite their different tastes, they discover an unlikely recipe for success that surprises them all.
Entertainment One UK will be releasing The Hundred-Foot Journey nationwide on Friday 5th September 2014.
