Filter Coffee Liquor Cha

If you want to be swathed in the "feel good" romance with a little bit of cross cultural spice, this film is one that ticks all the boxes of the nostalgic films from the 70's. Himeli (Priyanka Sarkar) is employed by a television channel,responsible for culinary coverage and is going through a rough patch in her career as her running the mill presentations are resulting in poor TRPs. She lives alone in a rented apartment, is a quintessential Bengali girl and enjoys her complete control over the flat, until her landlord inducts a new tenant, Subramanyam Iyer aka Subbu. Subbu is a serious problem to Himeli - he is vegetarian, deeply religious, chants hymns early in the morning disturbing Himeli's peaceful slumber and represents a cross-cultural chasm that she finds distasteful. But Subbu is also her only hope of reviving her flagging career with her company, as he is adept at fusion cooking, using South Indian basics.

Truce is in order, therefore, and the initially icy vibes transform into a lasting friendship, until Subbu develops romantic feelings for Himeli. She didn't think about Subbu that way and snubs him badly, leading to him moving away from the apartment and deciding to relocate to Bangalore. Does cupid get to play a role here is what you need to see and how. Filter Coffee Liquor Cha exudes the old world love charm, focusing on the sentiments of heartache, loneliness, yearning and regret of the lovelorn Himeli resulting from her brusque reaction. Priyanka Sarkar is quite likeable and does justice, while Nishan Nanaiyah is utterly credible, accentuating Himeli's plight. Usha Uthup plays a delightful cameo in this cross-cultural drama that vaguely reminded me of Basu Chatterjee's "Priyatama" for many reasons.

This is a feel good movie, with pretty good acting and quite simple story and really good direction and script.

All the cultural elements, multiple languages, body language (especially the tamil brahmin ones - since both the male lead and "Amma" both are not tamil brahmin - not even Tamil but Malayalee).

The score and easy pace are refreshing and quite delightful.

That being said, the film is mostly predictable, but charming and watchable none the less.

The setting of Calcutta, all the varieties of food ( making, history, research and the wild combinations) all makes it a really enjoyable afternoon watch.