A tryst with Food: Salt n Pepper Movie Review

The story of romance of the not-so-young, the delicacies that come in one scene after the other ( young viewers, I am not talking about Asif Ali or Mythili) and the unusual songs (I mean AanaKallan), Salt and Pepper , directed by Aashiq Abu is a trendsetter. It combines culinary adventure and realistic depiction of  a love affair that happens  from a misunderstanding.

A misunderstanding is the shortest cut between two hearts, Kahlil Gibran has said . Maya and Kalidasan are unmarried, passionate about food and lead quiet lives. Until a misdirected call connects Maya and Kalidasan and they start talking to each other about their lives and their passion for food.

As the conversations progress, they decide to meet. But both of them are in their late 30s and not so happy about their appearance and decide to send in their young friends. As both of them do the same thing, this twist adds to the comic element resulting in an affair with Manu and Meenakshi, the young friends who come disguised as Maya and Kalidasan.

The songs are amazing especially “Kanamullal” and “Premikumbol”. The most interesting part of the movie, however is how the two foodies share a recipe for baking a multi-layered cake known as Joan’s Rainbow, which was cake made by a loving wife who waited patiently for her husband to come back from WW II. As he was delayed by the four days, she made three layers of strawberry, pistachio and orange flavours and melted the chocolates he brought and poured it on the top. This is the rainbow of love that they had created and which they infuse into the two lovers who create the rainbow magic individually.

The stunning Swetha Menon and the realistic Lal have acted superbly. One unforgettable moment of the movie is when Kalidasan goes for a pennukanal and brings home a cook, played by Babu who has managed to break out of his  villain stereotype.

A tryst with food, Salt and Pepper has a feel good effect about it! Hope, for the sake of my friend Swapna from Hyderabad, who loves Kerala food and can’t understand Malayalam, the movie gets remade in Hindi soon so that she can tell me, “Yeah Suni, stop raving about that movie. I have seen it too!”

By The River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept

My sole thought while reading the climax of By The River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept was whether this would turn out to be a happy ending love-story or not. I was so anxious (I don't think I have even bothered that much about my own lovestory) that the words nail-biting or on the edge of my seat would have described me perfectly.

Like most of Paulo Coelho's novels, By The River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept is also about spiritual self-discovery and forgiveness, mostly about forgiving the self for the decisions it has taken, for the mistakes that it has made and the people it has hurt during this process.

But like most Coelho novels, it has too many connecting threads of thought, about individualism, life, destiny, decision-making, love and the concept of soulmate.The female character Pilar is 29 years old and Catholic. She has been through many experiences in the past and is reunited with a nameless childhood friend who has special spiritual powers.

Her search is to find true happiness and in the process understands that she longs to be with her childhood friend who is a spritual guide. He helps her discover who she is and to accept her needs as a person.

They find that they have fallen in love with each other and though they can bear separation,  they have to live together in order to understand the true nature of happiness. It is when the last page is finished and the characters decide to tie the knot that I, the poor anxious reader (whose lovestory had a botched ending anyways)  is relieved and happy! :-)

A child

The present

Water

Desire

Mindfulness

Love

The power of thinking