Aasif Mandvi in Today's Special

One thing you must not do is go to ‘Today’s Special’ on an empty stomach. Popcorn won’t satisfy you once you see all the delicacies in a film where people seem to be constantly cooking, grocery shopping or eating. Although it’s co-written by Aasif Mandvi who also wrote the Obie award-winning one man play ‘Sakina’s Restaurant’, he says the two are very different, and the film is only loosely inspired by a couple of characters from the play.

“It’s much more of a food film, much more of a romantic comedy. It’s a very New York story about Jackson Heights, about a family, about an Indian restaurant but it’s much more of a contemporary story than ‘Sakina’s Restaurant’,” says Mandvi who plays the lead in the film.

‘Today’s Special’, the opening night film of the MIAAC Film Festival in New York, is a fun and funny movie which gets you involved in the travails of Samir, a sous cook in New York, who has to find himself and his culinary soul. He is helped in the journey of self discovery by a mystical taxi driver who treats cooking like a beautiful, complex raga.  (Naseeruddin Shah digs into this meaty role with relish – he’s utterly believable as the charismatic cabbie, a part of the magic of New York).

Naseeruddin Shah in 'Today's Special'

Along the way, for Samir the reluctant chef there is the business of living, difficult parents, attempts to resurrect Tandoori Palace – his dad’s dumpy failing Indian restaurant, finding true love, not to mention finding himself. And of course, there are all the eats in Jackson Heights.

Mandvi’s co-writer Jonathan Bines is a food critic and comedy writer, so food and comedy were definitely on the menu. Says Mandvi:   “We had this idea – why don’t we write a romantic comedy, a very accessible film about an Indian Muslim family and Indian food, about the alchemy of Indian cuisine. We worked on it for many years – and ultimately here we are!”

With all the great food in the film, especially that mouth-watering biryani, Mandvi surely got to eat well? Not really – they had hired a gaggle of chefs and food stylists and the kitchen you see in the film was serviced by yet another kitchen off camera. The food was all touched up, an art form in itself,  and looked good enough to eat – but wasn’t.

Asked if he helped produce the film, Mandvi grins, “I’m a producer only in the sense that I call the producers every day and bug them! All our money was raised through private equity and we were very fortunate to get financing.” This small film, which is produced by Lillian LaSalle and Nimitt Mankad, was shot in 23 days in Jackson Heights, but still managed to assemble a great crew and cast. ( The executive producer of the film is Rengan Rajaratnam, and according to various media sources, his brother Raj Rajaratnam of Galleon Group, recently charged in the insider trading drama on Wall Street, was also an investor in the film.)

Mandvi is known to fans for his recurring role as the correspondent on ‘The Daily Show with Jon Stewart’ and is hoping that that audience will check out ‘Today’s Special’ as well. He admits that in real life his own personality is closer to that of Samir: “The character on ‘The Daily Show’ is much smarter than me and much better looking than I am!”

Jess Weixler and Aasif Mandvi in 'Today's Special'

What does he hope the audiences take away from the film? “On one level it’s a feel-good romantic comedy about food and love and family and culture. On a deeper level, however, it’s also about the idea that you can’t go forward in life unless you’ve gone back and reconciled with the demons of the past – so there’s a slightly more philosophical component to it.”

Aasif Mandvi makes an appealing Samir – you certainly root for him to discover his inner chef.  The inimitable Madhur Jaffrey and Harish Patel’s histrionics also bring the spice of curry and home into  ‘Today’s Special’ which is a tasty bite of Jackson Heights life that you get to savor without putting on any calories. Bon appetit!