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Cheeni Kum (literally, sugarless) is a Hindi film made by advertising executive and debutant director Balkrishnan. It is an unconventional love story between a middle-aged woman and an older man. This film released on May 25, 2007.

Plot

The film opens in the kitchen of Spice6, a (fictitious) Indian restaurant in London. Waiters, busboys and chefs are busy at work taking orders, preparing food and serving up a storm. At the center of this restaurant is an ornery head chef, Buddhadev Gupta (Amitabh Bachchan), presiding over "London's best Indian restaurant". He is quick to fire a sous chef on the spot for making a small mistake. And he launches into a grand speech about the rise of the restaurant to prominence, about the art of cooking and how it stirs all the senses, and about the discipline and commitment required to maintain its stature.

One of the waiters, affectionately called Colgate (reference to the toothpaste) and incessantly teased because of his protruding front teeth, brings back a Hyderabadi Zafrani Pulav. The patron sent it back because she claims it has too much sugar: "cheeni zyada hai". As a meat dish, it is not supposed to have any of the sugar that unbeknownst to Buddhadev a sous chef had accidentally put in. The great Buddhadev is enraged. He brings it back to the table and lays out the patrons. Is this their first time in London? How is Zafrani Pulav made at their home? Would they be so kind as to teach him? The patrons quietly leave. Buddhadev returns to the kitchen muttering about low air fares bringing planeloads of bloody tourists who simply cannot appreciate his art.

The next day Colgate brings back another Zafrani Pulav. Buddhadev tastes it and rattles off its ingredients. He pronounces it, the child of his kitchen, the best Zafrani Pulav in town. Colgate meekly informs him that it was not sent back, but cooked specifically for him by the previous night's patron.

That patron is Nina Verma (Tabu).

Over the next few days Buddhadev and Nina run into each other a few times. Nina, a 34-year old software engineer, is intelligent, charming, playful, and strong willed, all under a quiet external demeanor. Buddhadev is every bit the pompous, irritable and lonely old man he portrays. The film takes us into his life. He returns, night after night, to his lodgings and to his aged mother (Zohra Sehgal in an excellent performance). The bright spot in his life is his quick-witted 9-year old neighbor Sexy (Swini Khara). She teases him, checks up on him and dispenses advice (with apparent wisdom way beyond her age) about his problems. For all her wit and wisdom, Sexy suffers from leukemia. She also laments that she is not able to watch A-rated (analogous to R-rated films in America) films. Buddhadev offers to bring her DVDs. (Later in the film, she says there is nothing in them she didn't already know. She fast-forwards through them in an attempt to finish watching them all as quickly as possible.)

Buddhadev gradually gets closer to Nina. There is constant lively banter between them. She asks him why he fired yet another sous chef; if he is pleased to accept compliments about the food prepared by the sous chefs then he should gracefully accept criticism (and in this case fire himself!) too. Buddhadev is gradually summoning the courage to ask her out; she playfully suggests that he should come right out and ask without fear. Ask her name, she says, with a coy smile.

At some point during the next week, Buddhadev asks her if she will marry him. She accepts. When she goes to talk to his mother, she gets a phone call about her father, in Delhi, being admitted to the hospital. Right around this time, Sexy's condition worsens and she is admitted to a local hospital.

Buddhadev arrives in Delhi to meet Nina's father, Mr. Verma (Paresh Rawal). Mr. Verma is a typical old Indian retiree. He spends his life in Bhajan (devotional songs, mainly focused on Gandhi), Bhojan (food) and Bhaji (A reference to cricketer Harbhajan Singh, representing his love for cricket). Nina informs Buddhadev that her father, at 58, is younger than him! After a few false starts, Buddhadev asks Mr. Verma for his daughter's hand in marriage.

Mr. Verma is shocked and disgusted. He flatly refuses. Over my dead body, he raves at Nina. She immediately, yet quietly, asks him when he plans to go! He calmly tells her that he is concerned about her. Buddhadev is already and old man; how much longer can he live? She says she prefers spending a few years with a man she loves instead of a lifetime with some man she does not love.

It is a stalemate. Mr. Verma puts up a bhookh hartal (hunger strike, something commonly employed by Gandhi as a means of peaceful disobedience). Buddhadev arrives at the denouement. What is Mr. Verma's problem? He lays out the facts and addresses Mr. Verma's fears. He is adequately covered by insurance; Nina need not worry.

Mr. Verma finally relents. No sooner than Buddhadev hears this, he receives word from London that Sexy has passed away.

The film ends with Buddhadev, Nina, Buddhadev's mother and Mr. Verma having dinner at Spice6. Buddhadev offers to fulfill one of Mr. Verma's life goals: watching a game of cricket at Lord's stadium.