The fourth edition of Bonjour India is taking place 120 curated events across the country, and Café-Cinema promises to be one of its highlights.
The fourth edition of Bonjour India is taking place 120 curated events across the country, and Café-Cinema promises to be one of its highlights.
As the summer monsoon enters, the fourth edition of Bonjour India is well underway. The cultural initiative by the Embassy of France, Institut Française en Inde, Alliance Française Network and the Consulate General of France together is organizing over 120 curated and collaborative events in 19 cities, from Bhopal to Puducherry and Kolkata to Chandigarh.
Events are held to strengthen the osmotic influences between the two countries, through cinema, literature, jazz, circus, cartography, photography and science. An exhibition in Pune will showcase photographs of Paris taken by Parmanand Dalwadi, while an exhibition in Ahmedabad will show how French photographers have lensed India since the invention of the camera.
A week ago, when the scorching heat of a Saturday afternoon was washed away by the cool Mumbai evening breeze, I found myself in the open air at the Sofitel BKC (Bandra Kurla Complex), dotted with over 200 orange beans. bags, a string of lights, floating jazz and a projector screen. Eric Besnard Screening Delicious (2021) was held as part of the Café-Cinema – described as a French cinematic-gastronomic experience. Along with the food boxes were Les Terroirs Merlot and Chardonnay, Victor Bérard Ctes du Rhone and fresh crepes. Audio-visual briefcase Juliette Grandmont said it was a “shared passion for food and cinema” that binds India and France that inspired the event. A second later, she said, “And freedom. O too.”
cafe-cinema
food for thought and art
The language of food and cinema often mixes in a strange way. Think about how ‘masala’ is used to describe both the latest Victory movie and the condiments simmering down your vegetables, how performances and parfaits can be described as spectacular, how cocktails with liquid daring For is a noun and an adjective for a film that tries to do a lot of work – for better or worse.
Delicious, founded in 1789 pre-revolutionary France, is about the first restaurant. It begins with a mound of flour with a volcanic hole in the middle, which contains thrust slabs of yellow butter, eggs, and potatoes. You can hear the crinkle, crisping, kneading with a clarity that’s meditative, punctuated by color correction, which makes every surface look candied. The film follows Mansron (Gregory Gadebois), a cook fired by a duke who doesn’t appreciate his culinary initiative. He is encouraged to bring his food to the masses by a woman named Louise (Isabelle Carr), who insists that she adopt him as an apprentice. She wants to make perfect fruit jam. The revolutionary, egalitarian potential of the food, of the buffet, soon takes the film in a different direction.
Through the cooking, the film also makes a detailed, concise point about French cinema. At one point Manson remarks, “Bring the flavor to life. Don’t mask it.” So, moments of drama pass out without a sigh of operation, and moments of tenderness and love pass out without a swoon. The taste is neither concealed by manipulation, nor dulled by a lack of imagination.
There were more than 200 people in the audience, a mix of Hindi, English and French swaying in the air of Gudi Padwa, all seated on the grounds – a conscious choice to stay outside, to stave off cabin fever from the pandemic years. If you looked up you could see huge hotels, vacant offices and residential complexes of BKC. As if swallowed.
For upcoming cinema and cultural-themed events in various cities, visit ifindia.in. The events go on till the end of May.