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The success of Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahani has not only highlighted, once again, the talent of Alia Bhatt, Ranveer Singh, Shabana Azmi and Karan Johar, but also catapulted Bengali actress Churni Ganguly to national fame. Known for portraying character roles in Bengali movies and television series, Churni Ganguly plays Alia Bhatt’s mother, Anjali Chatterjee in the film. In a recent interview, the Bengali actress spilled the tea on her favourite foods while actually sipping on tea!
A true-blue woman from Kurseong in North Bengal’s Darjeeling district, Ganguly loves drinking Darjeeling tea, that too First Flush, without any sugar or milk. She also loves her coffee and starts her day with two large cups of the caffeinated beverage, she reveals in the interview. Her evenings are, however, all about tea. She also explains that when she’s travelling, she avoids drinking tea because she’s very particular about her choice and not everyone gets it right.
Video Credit: YouTube/Darjeeling Tea Direct
Ganguly reveals that during the shooting of Rocky Aur Rani, people on sets would often ask her to get Rasagollas from Kolkata—which she never ended up treating them to. However, she says, all she wanted to eat was Mumbai-special Vada Pav! “It has plenty of calories, but at my age, I don’t worry too much about weight gain,” she says. She also adds that co-actor Shabana Azmi would take great care of her and even send Mango Smoothies over.
She reveals that during the times when her mother wasn’t at home, her father would cook food with whole onions to circumvent the need for chopping hassles. Yet, Ganguly never really liked the taste of those whole onions because they would inevitably taste boiled instead of fried. Even today, she likes her onions cooked properly, and doesn’t have too many food demands beyond this basic necessity.
Ganguly’s favourite dishes to eat are Continental ones, and those which include eggs. She reveals in the interview that she loves the Bengali preparations of Dim Posto (eggs cooked in poppy seeds), varieties of Dal and Mangso or mutton dishes.
But, unlike many Bengalis, Ganguly finds Ilish Maach or Hilsa to be overrated. For those who don’t know, monsoon is the season when Bengalis love to indulge in Hilsa delicacies, and it is very rare for a Bengali to not love Hilsa, often to the point of obsession. The reason behind Ganguly’s dislike for Ilish is based” on the fact that this fish variety is overloaded with bones. “I have no interest in picking so many bones to eat fish,” she says in the interview.
And what about underrated Bengali dishes? “Boiled eggs, mashed potatoes and rice,” Ganguly says, adding that though simple, these dishes taste utterly delicious. She explains that though her childhood food experiences were different, her in-laws and husband, filmmaker Kaushik Ganguly are great foodies—so much so that they plan their next meals while eating one. She reveals that her husband and son, Ujaan, are both great cooks. “Ujaan cooks amazing pork dishes,” she says, adding that when her husband cooks, she likes to add the tempering.
