Biriani

**9 min · Short Film · Kenya**
**Directed by:** Mervin Yongene
**Produced by:** Benta Wangui

THE FILM

One favourite dish. One trusted friend. One secret that changes everything.

In a quiet coastal town, a talented chef is known for one dish that keeps customers coming back: her unforgettable Biriani.

Among her regular customers is a woman who is more than just a familiar face at the kibanda. She is the chef’s closest friend, someone who returns for her favourite meal and shares warm conversations across the table.

But beneath the friendship lies a painful secret.

When the chef discovers that the woman she trusts most has been secretly involved with her husband, her world begins to unravel. Shocked and heartbroken, she keeps her feelings to herself, continuing with her daily routine while carrying the weight of what she now knows.

Then, one day, her friend returns to order Biriani.

As the chef prepares the familiar dish, the kitchen becomes a place of difficult thoughts, unspoken emotions and choices that cannot easily be undone.

What should have been an ordinary order becomes a moment that will change their lives forever.

Inspired by true events, Biriani explores betrayal, trust and the things people keep hidden behind the routines of everyday life.

MORE THAN A MEAL

Food has a way of bringing people together. It creates familiar rituals, opens up conversations and gives us reasons to return to the same places and people.

In Biriani, that familiarity is part of what makes the story so unsettling.

The kibanda is where a friendship has grown around shared meals and warm conversations. It is a place of routine, comfort and trust — until a painful discovery changes the meaning of it all.

For the chef, the kitchen becomes more than a place to prepare food. It is where she must continue with the ordinary business of life while privately confronting an extraordinary betrayal.

And when her friend places another order, the familiar act of cooking takes on a different weight.

The film finds its tension in that contrast: the everyday ritual of preparing a beloved dish against the emotions neither woman can simply put aside.

Because sometimes, the moments that change everything begin like any other day.

THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY

Biriani is based on a true story.
When the incident happened, producer Benta Wangui and director Mervin Yongene sat down together and recognised an opportunity to bring it to the screen.
Over approximately five months, the team worked through the process of developing the script, scouting locations, casting and preparing for production.
Making the film in Malindi came with its own challenges. The town's film industry is still developing, and sourcing sound equipment proved particularly difficult.
Rather than allowing those limitations to determine what they could make, the team had to find creative ways to tell the story with the resources available to them.
One of the approaches was to work with minimal dialogue.
For a story built around a hidden truth and a character struggling to contain her emotions, this presented an opportunity to let the events themselves carry the tension.
The result is a story where what remains unsaid matters just as much as what is revealed.

A STORY THAT TAKES A TURN

The filmmakers have one particular hope for audiences watching Biriani: that the story catches them off guard when the twist arrives.

They want the audience to experience a range of emotions, from the appetite stirred by the food to the sadness that emerges as the characters' relationships unravel.

And that contrast is part of what makes the premise so intriguing. A dish that brings people together becomes part of a story about betrayal, heartbreak and a choice that cannot easily be undone.

You might come for the Biriani. But the story has something else in store.