Mohit Takalkar’s film Medium Spicy is an enjoyable flowering of his roots in contemporary, experimental Marathi theatre. Nissim Tipnis (Lalit Prabhakar) is a sous-chef in a fancy Mumbai restaurant, with an offer to work in Paris, who enjoys a friendship with two women at work—his boss chef Gowri (Sai Tamhankar) and colleague Prajakta (Parna Pethe). He’s such a pleasant, commitment-phobic bloke, that both women, who are attracted to him, despair. Takalkar’s film is a nuanced reflection on the unreliable rewards of love and marriage. It is an astute, funny, thoughtful and philosophical film about people like us, with enough romance and romantic songs to make it a rather satisfying ‘mindie film’ (my term for mainstream+indie) that is streets ahead of Bollywood in many ways. Kuch toh seekho, Bollywood*!

This is the third feature of Takalkar, a film director, screenwriter, film editor, and veteran theatre director and playwright, who initially trained as a chef (in hotel management), and also runs the Barometer restaurant in Pune, with friends. He directed The Bright Day (Toronto Film Festival), Chirebandi, a documentary on playwright Mahesh Elkunchwar, Medium Spicy—his most accessible film yet—and Occasional Reflection on the Contingencies of Life, his fourth feature. His Aasakta Kalamanch, the contemporary theatre group he founded, has produced over 30 plays.