Dining With The Kapoors offers a perfectly edited, heart-warming family reunion, but just stops short of showing the messy nok-jhoks and real moments that could have made it more immersive, notes Divya Nair.
Decades before Bollywood organised fancy red carpets and Diwali parties to mark their territories and to appease the paparazzi, Raj Kapoor and wife Krishna Kapoor had set the template for an ideal host.
They would invite the who's who of the entertainment industry for lavish dinners, overflowing with food, drinks and conversations that went beyond films.
The venue -- their bungalow in Chembur, north east Mumbai -- would be bustling with laughter, gossip and stories narrated by the showman himself.
In Armaan Jain's (Raj Kapoor's grandson) glossy documentary Dining With The Kapoors, he invites members of the Kapoor clan for lunch to revisit those old memories, while offering to cook a medley of handpicked dishes based on handwritten notes from his great-grandmother.
Armaan feels it's the perfect tribute to honour the 100th birth anniversary of India's greatest showman.
What you get to see in the docu-drama is a room full of performers narrating stories from their childhood, gushing over sepia-toned pictures and blurry videos of a flourishing bygone era.
With cousins Kareena Kapoor and Ranbir Kapoor leading the lively conversations at the table, the rest of the extended family and their partners join in -- laughing, interrupting, and lovingly arguing about the variety of food once cooked in the Kapoor household, and how their grandmother would insist on personally adding a generous dollop of ghee to every plate.
Navya Naveli and Agastya Nanda, whose grandmother Ritu Nanda was Raj Kapoor's elder daughter, also feature in the film.
While Armaan sweats it out in the kitchen, Ranbir distracts everyone to talk about the best memory of food they've had at the Kapoor house.
Bebo's eyes light up at the thought of paaya, while Lolo aka Karisma Kapoor recalls her fond memories of the fish curry.
They all teasingly gang up against Neetu Kapoor for her healthy dabbas, her dislike for ghee and her eternal love for salads.
Bebo reveals how Neetu had schooled her for eating too much during her pregnancy.
Armaan confesses how his failure as an actor pushed him towards cooking and agrees that it wasn't easy to get everyone together for the show.
Ranbir fondly shares how he ended up being named after his grandfather -- because the family had run out of R-names.
Reema Jain, Raj Kapoor's younger daughter and Armaan's mum, arrives late, to surprise everyone, takes on the role of a storyteller, remembering the loving bond she shared with her parents and her siblings who are no more.
You get to see candid pictures of some of your favourite actors interacting with Raj Kapoor and a small tour of their bungalow which is now sold.
The famous swing on which everyone from Raj Kapoor to the youngest of the Kapoor kids once sat, serves as the emotional centre-point of the stories.
If only the confessions weren't so well-rehearsed and self-promotional, it might have been interesting to listen in to some real stories and inside gossip which never really comes.
One might even think it is a calculated production to promote Armaan's Junglee Kitchen (in south Mumbai) that claims to serve traditional North Indian dishes passed down from the family.
Finally, lunch arrives, 'late as usual' closer to tea-time the Kapoors confess, as they turn the delay into their family affair.
Aadar Jain winds up the meal with a cute speech, with some harmless trolling.
They all thank each other while hoping they'd take turns and continue hosting each other to keep the tradition alive.
'I'll do Diwali,' Ranbir volunteers only to be interrupted and reminded that Diwali has always been Bebo's turf.
Ultimately, the hour-long docu-drama offers a perfectly edited, heart-warming family reunion, but just stops short of showing the messy nok-jhoks and real moments that could have made it more immersive.
Dining With The Kapoors streams on Netflix.
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