Masterchef

Despite being set in India MASTERCHEF has more than one eye on a Western audience . Truth be told my own experiences in India led me to believe there's only two things the native population consider more important than Shiva or Allah either cricketers or Bollywood film stars . Actually a third one might be Western tourists ready to be ripped off but let's not go there . The idea of a celebrity chef is popular in the West but would be totally unknown in the sub-continent of India and somewhat tellingly the short film MASTERCHEF does make a big deal that it was funded by Bill Gates perhaps the world's greatest living philanthropist . Even the title of the film conjures up TV celebrity chefs something you constantly see on Western television but not in India whose schedules are dedicated to Bollywood movies , female orientated soap operas or cricket matches

The film tells of a story of a shoe shine boy who wants to follow in the footsteps of a celebrity chef . It'd be very easy to compare this short with SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE , of a nobody in India wanting to become a somebody but where as Boyle's multi award winning film was a Western eye view on the mystical nature of India here we see a rather more realist approach and delivery devoid of mysticism and karma and could take place in any city in the world . It's also interesting that the masterchef of the title remains enigmatic and we're given no hint of his physical appearance and the story revolves around the 14 year old protagonist and the message is simple in that God/Shiva/Allah helps those who help themselves and that if you're hit by a set back you pick yourself up , dust yourself down and start all over again