‘Dining With the Kapoors’ Review: A Charming Kapoor Clan Celebration Full of Intimate Memories and Delicious Meals (LatestLY Exclusive)

Dining With the Kapoors Review: We’ve had documentaries and docu-series celebrating the Roshans, the Chopras and Salim-Javed. Now it’s time for Bollywood’s longest-serving surname - the Kapoors. Thankfully, this time, the template feels different. Dining With The Kapoors, streaming on Netflix, is a polished, one-hour special that ditches the usual talking-heads format of "legend" montages and instead goes personal, intimate, and - quite literally - scrumptious. And that shift makes Smruti Mundhra’s film surprisingly refreshing. ‘Dining With the Kapoors’: Tarun Mansukhani on Shooting With Kareena, Ranbir Kapoor and Family, Says ‘It Was Chaotic’.

Created by Armaan Jain, the special has the former actor-turned-restaurateur bringing together the entire Kapoor household for a reunion lunch he cooks himself, in honour of the 100th birth anniversary of his grandfather, the legendary Raj Kapoor (and possibly promoting his restaurant in the process).

Joining him are Randhir Kapoor; Karisma and Kareena Kapoor; Kareena’s husband Saif Ali Khan; Neetu Kapoor; Riddhima Kapoor; Ranbir Kapoor; Kunal Kapoor with his son Zahaan (of Black Warrant fame); Armaan’s brother Aadar Jain; the Nandas; and of course, Armaan’s mother Rima Jain - who arrives late but immediately dominates the lunch with her chatter, warmth and presence. Most of the youngest generation - the teens and kids - are absent, including Karisma and Kareena’s children with Navya Naveli Nanda, being the eldest of this lot, repping for them.

Watch the Trailer of 'Dining With the Kapoors':

If you can’t keep track of who’s who, don’t worry - Armaan provides a quick explainer of the Raj Kapoor family tree. Well, his descendants anyway; we don’t get into the Shashi and Shammi branches.

There are some conspicuous absentees. Alia Bhatt isn’t present, though she’s mentioned, and the grandmothers try to catch Raha’s attention on a video call. Navya’s brother Agastya (soon to be seen in Ikkis) doesn’t show up for lunch either, though he appears in interview snippets. The special doesn’t suffer without them, but the curiosity persists - especially to see how Alia blends into the Kapoor setup with the same ease as Saif. Damn it, these specials are turning me into a gossip uncle!

What lends the reunion an unexpected poignancy is the portion where the family reminisces about their time at Deonar Cottage, their ancestral Chembur home, recently sold. The memories hit harder knowing this is a bittersweet farewell.

Ranbir eventually raises a toast, summing up the Kapoor DNA in three words: food, films, family. Dining With The Kapoors has plenty of the first and last. Armaan serves dishes rooted in generational recipes, and there’s a lovely sequence where the younger cousins join him in the kitchen - with Ranbir leading the pack, very much the bullying-but-doting elder brother. Their collective obsession with food becomes a running motif, repeated so often that at one point I wanted them to move on - but their passion for it is infectious.

Films don’t occupy much space here. We get archival clips showing Raj Kapoor’s massive public love, and Saif offers an outsider’s perspective on what made him the 'Greatest Showman.' But largely, the family prefers remembering him as their patriarch, not as the cinematic icon he is to the world. Ironically, Aadar and Armaan never met him - he passed away before they were born - despite this entire tribute coming from Armaan.

The special clearly wants to project a happy, cohesive clan - and that’s fine even if we are all privy to the cracks within, past and present. Every family reunion works like that. You tuck away differences, show up, eat together, laugh, and relive memories. If differences run too deep, you simply stay away from the gathering. That’s life. And there is something warm and relatable in watching this legendary family do the same.

The one aspect I’m unsure about is their constant English-speaking. Maybe that’s how they talk among themselves, maybe it’s a Netflix thing. But for a family so intertwined with the evolution of Hindi cinema, hearing them mostly converse in Hindi would have felt more organic. A minor gripe, but still.

Rima Jain is easily the standout of the reunion. Whether because it’s conceived by her son or because she’s simply this charismatic in real life, she takes charge instantly - sharing stories of being Raj Kapoor’s youngest child, playing the piano as she performs "Jeena Yahan Marna Yahan," and adding emotional heft to the gathering. ‘Dining With the Kapoors’ Serves Delectable Spread of Inside Scoop, Gossip, and Heartfelt Stories of Kapoor Clan (Watch Video).

The special ends on a reflective note, with the family acknowledging the many losses they’ve endured in recent years (Shashi Kapoor, Shammi Kapoor, Rishi Kapoor, Ritu Nanda, Rajiv Kapoor). It’s an unexpectedly moving moment — the kind that nudges you to think of your own family, the fragility of time, and why reunions matter. We ain't sure what tomorrow truly holds for us, as the song goes, "Hum hai kahan, tum ho kahan."

'Dining With the Kapoors' Review - Final Thoughts

Dining With The Kapoors isn’t a deep-dive documentary - it’s a warm, indulgent family gathering dressed up as a special, albeit with a little Kardashian-ic touch. And that’s precisely its charm. Intimate, nostalgic and occasionally moving, it offers a rare look at Bollywood’s first family simply being a family, while celebrating their most prolific grand legend - Raj Kapoor.

(The opinions expressed in the above article are of the author and do not reflect the stand or position of LatestLY.)

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 21, 2025 10:56 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).