Naseeruddin Shah

Today's Special -- A heartwarming comedy with culinary flavor! Samir (Aasif Mandvi, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart), a sous chef at an upscale Manhattan restaurant, is forced to drop everything to take over the nearly bankrupt family restaurant, Tandoori Palace.

The Great New Wonderful -- THE GREAT NEW WONDERFUL weaves five stories against the backdrop of an anxious and uncertain post-9/11 New York City. Maggie Gyllenhaal, Edie Falco, Tony Shaloub, Stephen Colbert and Olympia Dukakis star in this lighthearted comedy about starting over.

TODAY'S SPECIAL, a heartwarming comedy with culinary flavor, tells the story of Samir (Aasif Mandvi, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, The Last Airbender), a sous chef who dreams of becoming the head chef at an upscale Manhattan restaurant. When he is passed over for a promotion, he impulsively quits and tells his co-worker Carrie (Jess Weixler, Teeth) that he intends to go to Paris and apprentice under a master French chef. But dreams must be put aside after his estranged father, Hakim (Harish Patel, Run, Fat Boy, Run), has a heart attack and Samir is forced to take over Tandoori Palace, the nearly bankrupt family restaurant in Jackson Heights. Samir's mother, Farrida (legendary cookbook writer Madhur Jaffrey), is consumed with trying to find a wife for her son, while Samir is trying to master Indian cooking to salvage the family business. Luckily, he crosses paths with Akbar (Naseeruddin Shah, "Monsoon Wedding"), a taxi driver, passionate chef and worldly raconteur. Akbar inspires Samir and teaches him to trust his senses more than recipes; to stop measuring his life, and to start truly living it. With Akbar's guidance, Samir has a chance to rediscover his heritage and his passion for life through the enchanting art of cooking Indian food.

The stories of a celebrity baker, an immigrant security guard, a pair of anxious parents, a regretful senior citizen and more, set in the collective consciousness that was NYC in the days after 9/11.