I won't remake any film, says Chef director Raja Krishna Menon

Filmmaker Raja Krishna Menon, who helmed the official remake of Jon Favreau's Chef (2014), says he does not want to attempt remaking another film and would focus on writing an original story instead.

Menon's version of the hit Hollywood film failed at the box office, but received a positive response on the digital platform.

Asked if recreating the same magic of a successful film is risky, Menon told IANS, a news agency, in Mumbai: "I don't think it is a risk, but I never thought I would do that. I never thought I'd adapt the story of my film from another hit film because, as a filmmaker, I always enjoyed writing my own scripts. Writing an original story is easier for me."

"With Chef, I challenged myself because I loved everything about that film — the world of food, travelling, father-son relationship. Having said that, no, in the future, I won't remake any film," he added.

The film will have its television premiere on SET Max on Friday (16 February). According to the director, the television premiere will make it more popular.

"I think TV is a great platform now for a film to reach a wide audience. We released the film on the online streaming platform already and we received a good response. Hopefully, the family audience will enjoy the film while watching collectively," Menon said.

Since the comparison between the two films was quite inevitable, was that one of the reasons behind the poor box office figures?

"I wish people ... instead of comparing the film with the original one, watch it as an original film. I know it is not easy but people should watch the film and enjoy for what it is. Our film talks about how important it is to find the balance between the professional and personal life," replied the Airlift (2016) fame director.

While in the original Chef, the protagonist mostly deals with creative conflicts with his boss and has his world revolving around the kitchen, the Indian adaptation of the film revolves around family relations.

Why didn't he explore the creative world of a chef in his film?

"We wanted to focus on the ups and downs of the relationship between a father and his son rather than cooking. In the original film, it shows the high-end cooking of a chef, but when I was toying with the idea of adapting the film in ours, I thought the audience might find the world of professional cooking alienating. Therefore, I shifted the focus to our diverse food culture, travel and various aspects of the relationship," he explained.

On his next project, he said: "I am writing my next film and it is a drama-thriller."