Cheeni Kum translates to “Low Sugar”. This romance while staying always cheeni kum manages from the skillful performances and direction to be thoroughly “Awwwwww!” worthy.

It stars one of India’s greatest stars Amitabh Bachchan as a cranky, egoistic, real-men-dont-show-sentiment chef who runs “London’s best” Indian restaurant. He is single and 64. Offending the chef, or choosing a moment when he is around to be silly, is not for the faint hearted. The only thing the chef is more masterful at than cookery is delivering caustic, crushing one-liners.

Tabu (The Namesake) plays a single 34 year old woman on her first visit to London. When dining out, she creates history at the restaurant by being the first patron ever to send back a dish. She claims the Hyderabadi Zaffrani Biryani is not authentic. The chef walks out to her table to deliver his sarcastic put-down and meets a person who can give as good as she gets.

The romance between Tabu and Amitabh ensues in scene after scene of witty repartee.

They decide to marry after he makes the world’s most unromantic proposal, his gruffness and humor betraying how much he cares. She responds with a matter-of-fact “yes” and says he has to ask her father for her her hand.

So they go to India. The rest of the movie is about how her father who is 6 years younger than him reacts to the news and their efforts to get him to accept the idea.

The Chef’s relationship with his mother and the precocious little girl next door who is fighting luekemia are similarly told in unique, cheeni kum style.