Today's Special (film)
Today's Special is a 2009 American indie comedy inspired by Aasif Mandvi's play Sakina's Restaurant. Directed by David Kaplan, the film features Mandvi along with Madhur Jaffrey, Naseeruddin Shah, Jess Weixler, Harish Patel, Kevin Corrigan, Dean Winters, and Ajay Naidu.
The story follows Samir, a sous-chef in a fancy New York restaurant who quits after not getting a head-chef job. He must return to his family's Indian restaurant, Tandoori Palace in Queens, where business is slow and the kitchen is rundown. Samir meets Akbar, a bigger-than-life gourmet chef and taxi driver, who teaches him about cooking and helps revamp the menu. With the help of his mother, father, uncles, and coworker Carrie, the restaurant becomes a popular New York spot. Akbar eventually moves away, but Samir keeps the momentum and earns his father’s pride.
Production companies are Inimitable Pictures and Sweet 180. The film premiered at the London Film Festival on October 16, 2009, and later screened at festivals in New York and Mumbai, among others, winning Best of the Fest at Palm Springs in 2010. The runtime is 99 minutes, and the language is English. Box office receipts were about $318,000.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 22:10 (CET).