Dining with the Kapoors promises to explore three of life’s passions that are also closely associated with the storied clan: family, food and films. In the Netflix documentary, several generations of the Kapoors and some of their significant others assemble for a feast to mark Raj Kapoor’s legacy.

Apart from celebrating Raj Kapoor’s centenary, which kicked off on December 14, 2024, the film serves as a reminder of how Bollywood’s first family earned its title. Created by Armaan Jain – one of two sons of Raj Kapoor’s only surviving daughter Reema Jain – and directed by Smriti Mundhra, the documentary is aimed squarely at younger viewers who have only a faint idea of the Kapoor legacy.

A family tree is helpfully rolled out. The younger members – Armaan Jain (also among the producers), his brother Aadar Jain, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Karisma Kapoor, Ranbir Kapoor, Riddhima Kapoor Sahni, and Navya Naveli Nanda are prominent.

But Alia Bhatt is missing. Where is Alia Bhatt, Ranbir Kapoor’s wife, one of Bollywood’s biggest stars and millennial darling?

She wasn’t available, viewers are told. Surely the makers could have waited? If this is the inside peek that will connect Netflix subscribers around the world to one of Hindi cinema’s most fascinating and enduring family units, wouldn’t Bhatt – who has been in the Netflix film Heart of Stone (2023) and walked the Met Gala’s red carpet – have been a valuable addition?

Bhatt’s absence says a lot about how poorly constructed and zeitgeist-blind Dining with the Kapoors turns out to be. The family’s present generation of actors – Zahaan Kapoor, who was in the streaming show Black Warrant, and Agastya Nanda, who headlines the upcoming Ikkis, are barely shown.

This neglect appears to be a sign that the 61-minute documentary isn’t a cynical branding exercise, that it is actually a peek into how the Kapoors hang out, share a love for food, and have a strong sense of their legacy.

The film does have these elements, but they seemed slapped together, rather than carefully thought out beforehand. Dining with the Kapoors claims to be a fly-on-the-wall documentary, but appears to have been assembled on the fly, with whatever footage was available.

Director Smriti Mundhra did a far better job in The Romantics (2023), about filmmaker Yash Chopra and his son Aditya Chopra. Geeta Singh, who edited the fan-fest documentaries Angry Young Men and The Roshans, also has a credit as creative editor.

The most revealing portions are not at the luncheon. The film has rare footage of Raj Kapoor’s bungalow in Deonar in Mumbai, where he lived for much of his life. In 2019, the bungalow and the adjoining RK Studios were sold to the Godrej group, and has since been redeveloped into a luxury housing complex.

In the documentary, Reema Jain and her brother Randhir Kapoor (the father of Kareena and Karisma Kapoor) sit on their father’s swing and reminisce about the good times they had at the house. Armaan Jain thoughtfully decorates the lunch venue with items that were taken from the bungalow before it was demolished. Jain, who had a short-lived acting career and now runs a catering business, also designs the menu according to recipes left behind by his grandparents.

Dining with the Kapoors gives a fleeting glimpse of the family, is a bit stronger on the food, but is barely interested in the films. Tellingly, the feast starts with formal plating and then becomes a ‘bring out whatever is on the stove’ affair.

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