Dining with the Kapoors review: Underwhelming and bland, fails to serve justice to Bollywood's first family legacy

Dining with the Kapoors story:

Dining with the Kapoors is an intimate, fly-on-the-wall documentary that invites viewers to a grand family lunch. The documentary follows the Kapoor family as they celebrate Raj Kapoor's 100th birthday and honour their nearly century-long legacy in Indian cinema. The special, directed by Smriti Mundhra and created by Armaan Jain, uses the Kapoors' true passion for food as a centrepiece for sharing laughter, playful banter, tender reflections, and never-before-seen moments of their cherished family camaraderie.

Dining with the Kapoors review:

It's an era of documentaries on Bollywood legends, and we have got many, probably unexpected ones over the past few years. From the world of Yash Chopra in The Romantics to Salim-Javed's Angry Young Men, it was a treat to watch these documentaries, especially for a generation who probably have not much idea about the cultural reset they created in Hindi movies. It always made me feel that it's about time that a documentary series is made on the first family of Bollywood, which is the legendary Kapoor family, where the actors have come out from almost four generations and they are unstoppable. The announcement of Dining with the Kapoors quickly piqued my interest, yet its treatment caught me completely off guard.

Yes, it is well-known that the Kapoor family are foodies, and their love of food has been a frequent topic in their interviews and interactions. However, promoting a cloud kitchen without addressing the family's prolific history and various aspects that the current generation may not know is concerning. Armaan Jain, the creator of the show, explains the family tree in a sequence that is quite difficult for even family members to follow. And he only goes on to explain the Raj Kapoor family. Well, that's not all for the Kapoor family, where Shammi Kapoor and Shashi Kapoor have been equally, if not more, popular and iconic.

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The documentary keeps on talking about how difficult it is to bring all the family members together and get them to talk about the legacy they are born into. However, at the end of the day, the discussion is on food, and the focus is hardly on other family members, including Karisma Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor Khan, and Ranbir Kapoor, who have actually taken the family's name to the next level over the years.

Most of the other documentaries do have actors who have collaborated with these legends and talk about their experiences of working with them. But yes, I agree; the Kapoor family itself is so massive that they don't need "outsiders" to come and talk about the legacy of their families. However, this documentary covers topics that the public is largely already familiar with.

In all honesty, it appeared as though someone without the Kapoor surname crafted the show, perhaps with the intention of promoting the family in some way. People have been talking about the absence of Alia Bhatt in the documentary. While watching the series, I felt that the rest of the Kapoor family was also hardly present during the show and was placed there for an ambient viewing. Of course, archival footage of Raj Kapoor was scattered throughout the documentary, showing him discussing how he wants people to remember him and the impact he has made on the film industry.

However, the show ultimately contradicted this intention and left me wanting more. Although I understand that the show does not present itself as a comprehensive documentary on Raj Kapoor's life and legacy, I wish the editing had been better and that we could have spent more than an hour exploring each family member in depth, especially with Smriti Mundhra involved.

Yes, it does seem that some documentaries excessively focus on celebrities discussing their own achievements, a trend that has become normalised in the film industry, where seeking acceptance is often the only option. However, the superficiality and lack of meaningful content, aside from merely filling a slot in the Netflix library, reflect sheer carelessness and are quite unexciting.

Dining with the Kapoors verdict:

Dining with the Kapoors offers a taste of the past, but it falls short of providing a full main course of the Kapoor family's monumental filmography. Although the close-up shots of their dinner provide a glimpse of real familial love, the documentary comes across as more of a cloud kitchen commercial than an in-depth look at Bollywood's first family.