A Twist Of Fate

Michelin star chef Vikas Khanna left no stone unturned to realise his dream of making a movie on a subject close to his heart, and it is now screening at fests worldwide.

- Shraddha Kamdar

If a brown boy from a relatively small Indian town can go to New York, set up his restaurant and get a Michelin star, he can surely direct this film,” celebrated chef Vikas Khanna shares the driving statement for him, when he decided to do it all on his own for

The Last Color, which follows the unusual friendship of Chhoti, a fearless nine-year-old tightrope walker and flower seller, who savours her dream to save `300 so she can attend school, and Noor, a white-clad widow who lives in total abstinence and is disallowed from taking part in any festivities, especially Holi.

In 2011, Khanna was shooting in Vrindavan for his book Utsav (which later went on to be the world’s most expensive book), when he spotted a narrow back alley turn to a sea of white rather than donning the colours of the festival that he and his mates were drenched in. The hue came from the attire of hundreds of widowed women, who were looking out of their balconies, admiring the festivities from afar. The stark contrast struck him within a split second, but what moved him even more was the goosebumps-inducing eye contact he made with an elderly woman, who folded her hands in a warm namaste to him. While he faintly heard one of his helper mates telling him not to look at her since it was inauspicious, the world-renowned chef admits “it killed him”.