Jadoo

There always seems to be mileage to be had from rival Indian restaurateurs. Producers always seem to think it will lead to hilarious results. Anyone remember the Channel 4 sitcom Tandoori Nights from the mid 1980s?

In Jadoo two brothers who fell out years earlier split their mother's cookbook into two halves. One had the starter courses and the other had the main courses. Both opened restaurants in Leicester opposite each other.

Of course the restaurant with the starter recipes has underwhelming mains and the one with the main recipes could never get his starter dishes right.

Both brothers accuse each other of skulduggery from trying to steal staff, making phantom bookings to dumping rubbish and calling the health inspector.

One of the daughter's who is due to get married wants the brothers to heal the rift for her wedding and take part together in a curry competition so they can thwart another rival restaurateur.

Jadoo is an amiable low budget film shot on location in Leicester. It even features the local Member of Parliament Keith Vaz as a judge alongside cook and actress Madhur Jaffery.

It is feel good film carried with aplomb by Amara Karan as the daughter/niece marrying outside the family tradition. Harish Patel and Kulvinder Ghir play the rival brothers and chefs although Ghir plays his role with more subtlety than Patel, who like his girth is a bit on the broad side.

Jadoo is a surprisingly funny, feel good British Asian comedy. Endearing, mouth-watering and with a terrific reveal at the end. The story line is simple - two brothers with competing restaurants involved in a long running family feud over their mothers' recipe book and the daughter who endeavours to bring them back together. Jadoo is what independent film making is all about and does not take itself too seriously. A heartfelt story teaching us about the value of family as so often is shared through a meal. We get a unique glimpse into the largest Indian community in the UK (Leicester). The south Asian actors steal the show. A must see for all ages. A few genuinely funny scenes and countless on screen mouth-watering Indian meals later, I could not help but smile.

Is this comedy? No I think not, just a wonderfully heart warming story about family. Some of the characters come from a comedy background, and there ae some funny moments. But more in the context of the story than there to be funny.

It's a story I thoroughly enjoyed and could watch again and again.

I was expecting to see a British comedy in the same vein as East Is East, or even in the great tradition of Ealing comedies. Maybe that was too much to expect, but at least I hoped to see a decent film, as it was on my BAFTA screeners list. It is poorly directed, acting is mostly wooden, camera angles and eyelines are all a bit odd. I was surprised to see a few actors who have done good work elsewhere but who can't lift this material at all. The premise is promising: Two brothers who used to be partners/ owners of an Indian restaurant in Leeds fall out and split the business. I started watching Jadoo with my husband and we could only manage it for about 20 mins before we agreed to switch it off. If you like wooden acting and panto filmmaking then this is for you.