Photo by JustEnza.com

Directly after watching the movie The Hundred-Foot Journey we were joined by the movie’s male lead, Manish Dayal. We interviewed him for about a half an hour and he was very engaging and entertaining. He gave us some great insight into the motivations of his character Hassan Kadam.

The first thing that we asked was if he cooked in real life and the answer was no. For him preparing for the movie was learning all about kitchen culture and how to look like he knew what he was doing with the knives and other equipment. He had many people to learn from as there were tons of chefs on set who were from all different styles. I asked him what his favorite meal from teh movie was and he said that he ate tons of the Beef Bourguignon.

Two Weeks Ago I was on an all expense paid blogger trip sponsored by ABC Family (#ABCFamilyEvent, #MysteryGirls, #YoungandHungry, #ChasingLife), Disney (#GuardiansOfTheGalaxyEvent, #BigHero6) and DreamWorks (#100FootJourneyEvent). The opinions expressed in this post are 100% mine unless of course they are credited as a direct quote of someone else.

Manish learned a lot from Helen Mirren. He told us that she has a wonderful crass sense of humor that gelled with his own. They would talk often and he learned much about her life. The best piece of advice that she gave him was that he should pick projects that will be the most fun.

Manish got into acting in a different sort of way. He saw Jurassic Park as a kid and knew that he wanted to be in the business. He watched tons of movies as a kid and his mother encouraged him to take a film class. Manish wanted to be a director or a producer and that is something that he still wants to pursue but when he got in front of the camera things clicked for him.

He learned more about the French and Indian cultures which he thought were so different. He soon learned that both cultures have razor sharp appreciations for food. While the French kitchen is structured and everyone follows rules and has their own place. In an Indian kitchen everyone does everything to get the food cooked it is more chaotic but there is still that respect and appreciation for the food.

Manish described that his scenes with Charlotte were the most natural and he didn’t really prepare for them. He just knew what he was going to say and the tone of the scene and objectives. They became fast friends and they had fun on screen and off. Again sense of humor played into becoming friends and pranksters on set. Their friendship translated to the screen as well.

Photo by Marshall Weinbaum

Manish comes from a television background and he said that the coolest thing about working on the film was that he got to develop his character. He got to really understand the motivations for the character and how that character evolves over the course of the film from a young man with no responsibilities to a man who had been through conflicts and had huge responsibilities.

Manish was very warm and engaging. He took group photos with us after the interview and he left us with one last bit of knowledge which is what message he hopes people take from this movie. “The message that I hope people walk away with is that in order to achieve something great you have to go after life’s uncertainty.”

Learn more about The Hundred-Foot Journey Movie below.

THE HUNDRED-FOOT JOURNEY
DREAMWORKS PICTURES and PARTICIPANT MEDIA

Genre: Comedy/Drama
Rating: TBD
U.S. Release date: August 8, 2014
Running time: TBD

Cast: Helen Mirren, Manish Dayal, Om Puri, Charoltte Le Bon
Director: Lasse Hallström
Producer: Steven Spielberg, Oprah Winfrey, Juliet Blake
Executive Producer: Caroline Hewitt, Carla Gardini
Co-Producer: Raphael Benoliel
Screenplay by: Steven Knight
Based on: The novel “The Hundred-Foot Journey” by Richard C. Morais

In “The Hundred-Foot Journey,” Hassan Kadam (Manish Dayal) is a culinary ingénue with the gastronomic equivalent of perfect pitch. Displaced from their native India, the Kadam family, led by Papa (Om Puri), settles in the quaint village of Saint-Antonin-Noble-Val in the south of France. Filled with charm, it is both picturesque and elegant – the ideal place to settle down and open an Indian restaurant, the Maison Mumbai. That is, until the chilly chef proprietress of Le Saule Pleureur, a Michelin starred, classical French restaurant run by Madame Mallory (Academy Award®-winner Helen Mirren), gets wind of it. Her icy protests against the new Indian restaurant a hundred feet from her own, escalate to all out war between the two establishments – until Hassan’s passion for French haute cuisine and for Mme. Mallory’s enchanting sous chef, Marguerite (Charlotte Le Bon), combine with his mysteriously delicious talent to weave magic between their two cultures and imbue Saint-Antonin with the flavors of life that even Mme. Mallory cannot ignore. At first Mme. Mallory’s culinary rival, she eventually recognizes Hassan’s gift as a chef and takes him under her wing.

“The Hundred-Foot Journey” abounds with flavors that burst across the tongue. A stimulating triumph over exile, blossoming with passion and heart, with marjoram and madras, it is a portrayal of two worlds colliding and one boy’s drive to find the comfort of home, in every pot, wherever he may be.

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THE HUNDRED-FOOT JOURNEY arrives in theaters everywhere on August 8th!