Netflix's 'Dining With The Kapoors' Docu-Special Review: Ranbir Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor show it's all about loving your family, and food

Cast: Randhir Kapoor, Neetu Kapoor, Rima Jain, Ranbir Kapoor, Karisma Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Riddhima Kapoor Sahni, Aadar Jain

Director: Smriti Mundhra 

Language: English

The Kapoors are the first film family of Hindi cinema. Their passion and enthusiasm for films and food is known to all the movie aficionados. To bring many of them under the same roof and in the same frame is an idea that sounds ambitious. And Dining With The Kapoors happens to be right in front of us on Netflix. Dining is the right word for the family as we just mentioned their fondness for food. As much as it’s heartening to see them talk about their secrets, both hidden and public, the void of Rishi Kapoor can clearly be felt. He was a delight to watch even when infuriated by the paps or anything around. And unapologetically judged anyone who was a vegetarian.

The man who was fondly called Chintu didn’t mince words either. His volcanic and explosive statements and opinions were delightful and nightmarish in equal measure. Even though the rest of the Kapoors in the family try to ignite a sense of camaraderie and harmless fun, a sense of staging does seem apparent. We first see them answering questions about one another. And then the family union happens. To give credit where it’s due, no Kapoor seems to have any air of being a Kapoor, at least not when we first see them together. They greet each other how a conventional family would. Their banters and conversations are juxtaposed by anecdotes from the days of yore and snippets from individual members of the family.

Saif Ali Khan was the one I was looking forward to. His wicked sense of humour is something a special as frothy as Dining With The Kapoors needs and deserves. He describes the family as liberal and then his wife Kareena says they are fun, amazing, and united. The dysfunctional dynamics are not touched upon and rightly so since this is the time to let their hair down. We get montages of Raj Kapoor, his tenacious contribution to Hindi cinema. Spurts of humour float around when the women in the family ask each other their height, or when Navya Naveli Nanda exclaims it is difficult to keep a track of the family tree since it is so complex.

But one of the best moments in the docu-special is when Armaan Jain confesses how he tried to walk on his grandfather’s footsteps by wanting to become an actor but things didn’t work out. He’s the only Kapoor member we see in the kitchen cooking some sumptuous meals for a family that’s always famished. Armaan now has a delivery kitchen called the Junglee Kitchen. Why Junglee? For a film buff, the answer lies in the name itself. So not getting into the details. You should be better than that. Dining with the Kapoors is a special that tries to delve deeper into the fetish for food the family has. This is something everybody has said in their interviews, the only difference being this time, the revelations are more meticulously done.

It’s ultimately a harmless, innocuous watch, especially if you happen to be a fan of anyone from the family. The biggest challenge, however, is to actually review or critique it. An extravagant ménage is basically cherishing the cheerful times they have seen together. And somebody is making a special out of it. Now, how does one review it?

Rating: 2.5 (out of 5 stars)

Dining With The Kapoors is now streaming on Netflix