Monomyth Storytelling - Ustad Hotel
Ustad Hotel
Written by - Anjali Menon
Directed by - Anwar Rasheed
Starring - Dulquer Salman, Thilakan, Nithya Menon
Ordinary World
The story of Faizi(Dulquer Salman) begins much before he is born. Abdul Rasaq, Faizi’s father wanted a son to keep his empire running.
To his disappointment, Faizi was born after four girls and his mother Fareeda becomes ill and dies due to many deliveries. Frustrated Abdul Rasaq takes his five children to Dubai where Faizi is looked after by his four Illathas (Sisters).
Faizi enjoys spending his time in the kitchen with his sisters while his father wishes him to cling to the expected gender role of a man and focus on his education and career. Nevertheless, Faizi was greatly influenced by his sisters and believes that cooking is a way to bond with any individual and express his identity.
As Faizi grows up, he hopes to become a chef much against his father’s wish. Thus, knowing his father would not support his ambition, Faizi lies to Rasaq that he wishes to study hotel management in London and instead enrolls at a culinary school. He also confesses the same to his Illathas.
His sisters conspire to bring him home after the course, but still keep the dark about Faizi’s true plans from Rasaq. At the same time, Rasaq arranges a bride visit for Faizi as soon as he steps off the plane, but things don’t go well when he reveals to Shahana (Nithya Menon) that he has secretly studied to become a chef and not hotel management.
This shatters Razaq's dream of opening a five-star hotel in Kozhikode.
Call To Adventure
Angered by the humiliation, Rasaq confiscates his passport, and credit card, so that Faizi cannot go to London where he has already got a job. Faizi leaves the house and turns to his grandfather Kareem Ikka (Thilakan) who runs a small beachside restaurant, Ustad Hotel in Kozhikode.
Fazi stays in Kozhikode more than he anticipated. During his stay with Kareem, he gets involved in the daily activities of the Ustad Hotel. He strikes up a friendship with a music band and finds out that Shahana is the lead singer of the band.
Shahana bonds with Faizi and tells him that "today is the last day of my freedom" as she is getting engaged.
Refusal Of The Call
The rebellious and modern Faizi finds it hard to revamp in a small place. Finding his struggle, Kareem finds a job as chief at a nearby five-star restaurant.
Very soon Faizi realizes that much of his dreams are built from illusions and don't fit reality.
Meeting the Mentor
Faizi meets Shahana’s new fiancee who talks down to him and splashes sauce across his face without so much as an apology.
In the meantime, Kareem acts as a mentor to Faizi and teaches him not only how to cook his famous biryani, but also the ways to care of this business, including his workers, and the general community around him.
The obvious respect which Kareem receives from his staff, customers, and the chef in the five-star hotel nearby, makes Faizi realize that there is more to his grandfather than he previously realized.
Crossing The Threshold
In a pivotal moment, he also finds that the five-star hotel next door wants to acquire the land on which Ustad Hotel stands.
This arc comes to a climax when the corporate friends of the CEO claim that their chicken isn’t “fresh” enough and Dulquer quits his fancy job after dropping a live chicken at the table.
Test, Allies, Enemies
Kareem had incurred lakhs in debt and was at the mercy of his bank which was conspiring to seize the restaurant and give the property to the five-star hotel.
The owner then bribes the local health department and gets Ustad Hotel closed down because of unhygienic conditions.
Approach To The Inmost Cave
Faizi starts to collect money from the employees and renovates the Ustad Hotel. Later, Shahana sneaks out of her house and sings with a band to feel the same freedom. She joins with Faizi and helps him to reopen the restaurant that enabled them to clear off the debt.
Ordeal
Even after Faizi helps Kareem to save Usthad Hotel from debt and falls in love with Shahana, he still holds on to his earlier dream of becoming a chef in Europe. He receives a job offer to work as an executive chef in a restaurant in France.
When he breaks this news to his grandfather, Kareem has a heart attack and gets hospitalized. At the hospital, Kareem asks Faizi to visit his friend Narayanan Krishnan in Madurai, whom Kareem had been funding to feed the poor.
Reward (Seizing The Sword)
Faizi decides to meet Narayanan Krishnan, a five-star hotel chef who has dedicated his life to feeding the poor after seeing a man eating his own feces.
During his visit to Madurai, he understands the spiritual kind of culmination does feel in his soul with a peaceful warmth and a feeling of love towards the poor, who remain deprived of many basic necessities in life including their daily food.
Eventually, he understands Kareem’s words “anyone can fill a stomach, but only a good cook can fill the heart as well”.
The Road Back
When he returns to Kozhikode, Faizi finds that Kareem has already left the Ustad Hotel and set sail to pilgrimage in North India, his lifelong ambition.
Resurrection
Faizi stays back at Ustad Hotel and marries Shahana. Faizi's father in the end changes his mind and starts supporting the restaurant, making it a profitable one.
Return With The Elixir
Faizi takes over Ustad Hotel, recognizing that his rightful place is not where he will get the most fame or money but where he can touch the most hearts.
He releases that, “Food is the one thing for which a person doesn’t become greedy enough as compared to all other material things in his life. A person wishes to have more and more when it comes to money, wealth, luxury, and fame. But when it comes to food, he at once says NO, as soon as his hunger is satisfied and refuses to take any more”.
