Taking a Journey with Manish Dayal

When I watched THE HUNDRED FOOT JOURNEY, Manish Dayal (Hassan Kadam) lit up the screen riveting the audience who eagerly watched his every move along his life and culinary path.  In real life, Dayal has the same commanding and bright presence.  When he entered the room for the interview, the whole theater was instantly aglow.

Some people possess an inner light that brightens, projecting images of hope and zest for life.  Dayal is one of these illuminating individuals you cannot help but smile around and be thankful you were able to share a few moments in the light.

The first question on everyone’s mind to ask Manish Dayal was whether he cooks in real life or if the THE HUNDRED FOOT JOURNEY FILM inspired him to.

“So, I’ve been getting that question a lot lately and this is what I would say is ‘no,'” said Dayal.  “But, I’ve definitely learned a lot about cooking and definitely in the movie it wasn’t so much about learning how to cook but more just how to understand kitchen culture.  We had to understand how to chop and where to stand and how to move and how to make sure that all the dishes were effectively made.”

There was plenty of kitchen talent on hand to help with the film and to aid Dayal along with his learning curve.  From French chefs to Indian chefs to molecular kitchen chefs, the movie travels through many culinary scenes that all required many chefs to be involved with the food preparation and scene setups.

“I went into it (the film) thinking that the French culture and the Indian culture are completely different.  There’s nothing about these two cultures that are similar, until I started working on the movie and really sort of, living with these people who were making the movie,” said Dayal. “I realized they’re actually distinctly similar unlike any other culture in the world because of their appreciation for food.  They both have this sort of like razor sharp appreciation for it that I don’t think any other culture has that I’ve been part of.”

“They (French and Indian) both have this sort of like razor sharp appreciation for it (food) that I don’t think any other culture has that I’ve been part of.” 

He did find vast differences in the French kitchen versus the Indian kitchen structure, though.

“A French kitchen is really structured.  It’s very formulaic.  There’s a formula for everything,” said Dayal. “There’s a way to do everything.  There’s a way to stand.  And everyone has a skill in the kitchen and you know your skill by not going beyond your skill.  So there’s a hierarchy there that’s really respected and it’s really quite amazing to watch how everyone follows the rules.”

“Then there’s an Indian kitchen,” Dayal continued. “It’s not like that at all.  It’s really insane.  In an Indian kitchen, it’s about who-ever, however you’re gonna get this thing cooked.  How are we gonna make it happen?  Both, yield great tasting food but the cultures in theses kitchens are so different.”

Amidst the cultural clash and blend of cuisines, the foods that evoke memories of home for Dayal are grilled cheese sandwiches bring him back to his childhood when his mother would make them late at night if they were hungry.  Rice and daal, a thick split lentil stew that is a popular staple in Indian cuisine, also reminds him of home.

“The thing about daal is depending on where you’re from in India, where your family originates, daal is a uniform dish, but everybody cooks it differently,” said Dayal.  “Where I’m from, where we were raised, which is also where the Hagi’s originate from in the movie, they put sugar in it.  So to me, daal should be sweet.  But to a North Indian, it shouldn’t be.  For us, it’s also runnier and in the North, it’s thicker.”

Dayal’s favorite dish on the set of THE HUNDRED FOOT JOURNEY was the beef bourguinon, which he ate so much of during filming that he could barely eat lunch that day.  Though they do not make an appearance in the film, the food he found surprised to like was frog legs.

“Helen actually gave me a frog leg,” said Dayal.  “She ordered them for lunch one day and I was like what is it?  And she was like, ‘try one.’ So, I tried it and it was actually pretty good.  So that was one of the stranger things that I ate.  It does taste like chicken, but it’s a lot of work.  You know what I mean?  You might as well just eat chicken. (laughs).”

The twenty-something actor from South Carolina found himself laughing a lot while working with Helen Mirren, attributing it to her crass sense of humor which he feels they have in common.  He also learned a great deal from watching the actress prepare for scenes and hearing stories of her past experiences.

“It was an amazing experience,” said Dayal.  “She also told me something that I won’t forget which was ‘when you pick movies to do you should just pick based on how much fun you’re gonna have.’  I thought that was really good advice.”

Having the chance to meet and work with Oprah was also an incredible experience for this young actor.  He found her to be amazing in person and as giving and generous as one might expect.

“The most interesting about her (Oprah) is how generous she is with her knowledge and her knowledge of the world and how much she did impart and which things that we talked about on set,” said Dayal.  “It’s clear to me, and think all of you guys, why she’s connected to this story.  This is a story about a displaced family that has to sort of find their way in this new place and overcome all these obstacles culturally and racially in every way.  It’s a real immigrant story… these are the stories that she wants to tell.  And I think she did it.”

Working with Charlotte Le Bon turned out to be quite a thrill for Dayal, too.  He describes the chemistry between them as “hot and spicy” on screen.  Viewers will certainly agree this duo brings romance to the forefront in THE HUNDRED FOOT JOURNEY.

“I think we did have a very good chemistry because we were friends,” said Dayal.  “We just became friends fast because of her sort of sense of humor.  She’ll make any joke and she will say any damn thing you can imagine and I love that about her.  I thought she was just very like sort of off the cuff and we just laughed a lot and we became sort of pranksters.  It was fun and so I think that translated on screen.”

 “She’ll ( Charlotte Le Bon) make any joke and she will say any damn thing you can imagine and I love that about her.”

Most of Dayal’s former acting experience has been with television shows like 90210 and Switched at Birth. THE HUNDRED FOOT JOURNEY is his first big movie role and he truly enjoyed evolving the character.

“I think that’s what makes it very different that you can really experience, work through it, figure out how this person changes, evolves mentally, physically, verbally, everything,” said Dayal.  “You don’t get to do this on TV as much.  In this movie I got to really sort of see this young man from a boy to a man and how that really evolves.”

Dayal read THE HUNDRED FOOT JOURNEY novel twice in preparation for the film and kept it nearby when filming to reference. Keeping the integrity of the book was important and he found it useful to have the book on-hand when he was unsure about something he was doing in the movie or if he needed to gain a deeper understanding of of a scene.

“The message that I want, I hope people feel or walk away with is that in order to achieve something great you have to go after life’s uncertainty,” said Dayal.  “It’s about going into the unknown and not knowing what’s gonna happen.  Going after life’s uncertainty and committing yourself to a higher purpose.  That’s what I think this movie’s about.  For everyone in the movie, not just my character.  It’s that was for Om Puri (Papa) when he arrives in France.  This guy with four kids to feed.  Like wow!”

“And Helen Mirran (Madam Mallory) is really trying to do away with years and year of culture and experience that she knows,” Dayal continued. “She’s hardened to it and then sort of loosening up.  That’s tough.  I think everyone has a little bit of a journey.  I think my character really does go after something that is difficult and challenging and not knowing what the result.  That is real courage, in my opinion.”

“I think everyone has a little bit of a journey.” 

Truly a sweetheart, Manish held the camera to take a few selfies until one finally turned out clear enough (the lighting was pretty bad where we were standing.)  His mother should truly be proud of this wonderfully talented actor and his genuinely generous spirit!

Interviewing Manish Dayal right after viewing THE HUNDRED FOOT JOURNEY was an amazing experience.  I hope you’ve gained as much insight as I did from this talented actor!

I encourage you to step out this weekend and see THE HUNDRED FOOT JOURNEY, it’s certainly a film I know every Rural Mom reader will thoroughly enjoy.  If you’d like to read more, you’ll find my review of the film here: https://ruralmom.com/2014/08/food-for-soul-hundred-foot-journey-film.html 

We’ve also been featuring recipes inspired by the film every Friday for #FoodieFriday, catch up on the latest installment here:  https://ruralmom.com/2014/07/parisian-mumbai-salad-foodiefriday.html

I had a crazy-cool experience cooking recipes inspired by THE HUNDRED FOOT JOURNEY at Le Cordon Bleu Los Angeles, if you’re curious about that experience, you can find the details here: https://ruralmom.com/2014/07/cooking-at-le-cordon-bleu-every-bite.html

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