“Aav Re Varsaad" An Exploration Of Traditional Gujarati Recipes Romancing The Monsoon

“Aav re varsad!” that translates to “Come, Oh rain!” is a delicately-shot short film series on the wonders of making traditional Gujarati food and how it ties into our heritage, community values, and the Indian sense of the family. Specifically, Aav Re Varsad is a documentary about Nihar Desai’s mother who cooks delicious Gujarati dishes when the tufts of monsoon seep back into the blue skies. Nihar Desai is the founder of Bay101 production studios and is also a talented up and coming director, cinephile and innovator.

Nihar retells his initial motivation to create this seven-part food documentary series, “I’ve wanted to document Gujarati food for a really long time, but honestly never got the peace of mind to do so. I lost my grandmother about a month ago and that incident suddenly made me want to grab on to whatever I could define as the idea of home. This urgency resulted in a brief chat with my mother about what kind of food defines our family. When asked as to what the monsoons reminded her of, my mother sang this poem: Aav re Varsaad. (Come, oh Rain).”

The first episode explores the making of Dhokli with paapdi (Indian beans) or fansi (French beans). A production by Bay 101, this series is a heartwarming journey on the history of food and familial bonds.

You can watch the first episode of the short film series unfold here.

Watch the rest of the series unfold on Youtube or Instagram.

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