She has the kind of warm, breezy and non-fussy personality that has you even before she says, ‘Hello’. Sanjana Sanghi, who kicked off her acting career with Ranbir Kapoor’s Rockstar when she was only 13, and made her big Bollywood debut with Dil Bechara close to three years ago, has been in Calcutta for the last few weeks shooting for her new Hindi film. Directed by Pink man and city boy Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury aka Tony, the yet-untitled film has Pankaj Tripathi, Parvathy Thiruvothu, Jaya Ahsan, Paresh Pahuja and Varun Buddhadev as Sanjana’s co-stars.
When I landed up on the cheery sets of the film on a recent winter morning, I witnessed the kind of easy camaraderie that had developed between the members of the cast. A lot of that had to do with the kind of people that they are and the chemistry that the film-maker has helped conjure on set, but it was also because of a shared love for eating and the fact that Roy Chowdhury’s sets are as much about food as they are about films.
A radiant Sanjana, dressed simply in a salwar-kameez, spoke a lot about the food in Calcutta when I caught up with her between shots. With Imtiaz Ali, the director of Rockstar, being a well-known seeker of good grub himself, Sanjana had already tried out Aminia’s biryani and packed in a trip to Flurys to take a bite of its famous rum ball, both suggestions coming from Imtiaz himself.
A visit to Kafulok in China Town, an evening at Olterra on Park Street and, of course, home-cooked Bengali food from Roy Chowdhury’s kitchen had already made its way to Sanjana’s must-eat list. There was much more, of course, that had to be on the actor’s eat-in-Calcutta menu.
Reason enough for t2oS to host Sanjana for a Bengali meal, courtesy 6 Ballygunge Place. With a date for lunch quickly decided on, Sanjana arrived at the popular outlet’s address at Chowringhee for a hearty meal and some chit-chat.
“This is so much food!” yelped Sanjana, as soon as the traditional kasha thala with multiple courses of the restaurant’s most popular dishes were placed in front of her. On the menu was basanti pulao, plain rice, luchi, beguni, moong dal, narkel posto bora, shukto, mochar ghonto, kosha mangsho, mangshor jhol, daab chingri, machher paturi, nolen gurer payesh, mishti doi and nolen gurer rosogolla.
“I really don’t know where to start,” laughed Sanjana, looking dewy-fresh and dressed in an olive-green shirt and denims. The shukto immediately caught her fancy, as did the lightness of the mangshor jhol. And she was immediately blown away by the machher paturi. “This paturi is to die for!” smiled Sanjana, in between bites. “I am a fish fan and for me to eat such fresh fish is a dream because in Bombay, fish is kind of a hit and miss.”
Food makes her world go round
What’s a meal, especially in a city of foodies like this, without conversation around food? Sanjana’s petite frame belies the fact that she is a true gastronome who is always willing to try out new dishes. The fact that her childhood has been one spent with a variety of cuisines has piqued Sanjana’s interest and catalysed her appetite. “I am Punjabi and Marwari from my father’s side and a Gujarati from my mom’s side. So while growing up, I used to eat tandoori chicken and dhokla with the same amount of passion at home,” she laughs.
Sanjana tucks in a phuchka in front of Victoria Memorial
Sanjana strikes a pose at Roots, the all-new rooftop chill pad at Chowringhee
“Growing up, there would always be all kinds of food at home. From Marwari mangochi to Punjabi gobhi aloo and rajma chawal.... Chinese was as much of a favourite growing up as Indian food was,” she adds, digging into the paturi.
The fact that her Delhi-based parents owned a takeaway kebab den many years ago has also contributed to Sanjana the foodie. “They shut it down it down when my brother was born, and so I never experienced it. But those marinations continue even now at home,” she says. In the same breath, she adds that the kosha mangsho that she was currently savouring reminded her of “Delhi-style mutton”.
Phuket to Cabo to Yerevan: a gastronomic adventure
Sanjana has had her share of trying out the local cuisine in the places she has visited, both for vocation and vacation. She confesses that she has developed a new-found love for steaks. “I am becoming more and more of a steak fan. Growing up, I wasn’t exposed to it. My brother lives in New York and that city has some of the best steaks. And Aditya Roy Kapur (her co-star in her July 2022 film Rashtra Kavach Om) is an absolute steak fanatic! When we were in Dubai, every night we would go to a different steakhouse and also in Yerevan in Armenia, that’s all we used to do.”
Sanjana also fondly recalls a trip to Mexico right after she graduated college. “The ‘dhabas’ on the streets of Cabo literally sell tacos like one would find phuchka here! Pork tacos and all kinds of beautiful stuff. I loved it!”
She doesn’t have fond memories of a meal she had in Phuket, though. “We were shooting for an ad at a strip club in Phuket and I am pretty sure that there was a little bit of snake in there and I definitely know there were octopus legs!” she shivers. But then a little adventure here and there never hurts, does it?
Can she cook, I ask her. “I can cook the things I need to survive, and I live alone in Bombay, so those situations come up a lot. I can cook egg fried rice and poha very well, and those are two things I love eating a lot. And chai!” she says, with her trademark hearty smile.
For the love of acting
A “big fan” of Calcutta already, and not just for its food, Sanjana is glad that a film like Tony da’s has happened to her so early in her career. “Before this film, I have never felt this emotionally invested in such a fast-paced thriller. The film rests on mine and Pankaj da’s (Tripathi) shoulders. At its core, it’s a father-daughter story and to be able to be so central to a story so early on, and to have the trust of my director means everything to me as a young actor. I got so greedy because there is so much for me to do as an actor,” she says.
An actor “purely for the love of the craft”, Sanjana says that she is glad that film-makers are reaching out to her with meaty and meaningful parts. “My inner voice is very clear and loud and the film-makers who need to hear it are hearing it. I can’t do a film just like that because I am very invested in what happens on set every day. I am not one of those actors who can do a film and then forget about it... it stays with me, it becomes a part of me,” she smiles. The young actor is also a part of Dhak Dhak, a girl power story which has Ratna Pathak Shah, Dia Mirza and Fatima Sana Shaikh as her co-stars.
As we exit 6 Ballygunge Place after the meal, I ask Sanjana about what she remembers about her first day on the sets of Rockstar 12 years ago. “I remember flying into Dharamshala and going straight to meet Ranbir and Imtiaz in the vanity van. I didn’t even know then what a vanity van was! But I wasn’t nervous at all... I started cracking jokes with them and I was very comfortable on set,” Sanjana recalls. The conversation once again veers to Imtiaz and his love for food.
That’s the cue for Sanjana and us to hop into the car and vroom off to Victoria Memorial. As she walks on the footpath bordering the Maidan, Sanjana excitedly looks around at the carnival-like atmosphere. A couple of phuchkas down, it’s time for us to say goodbye. But not before she tells us that she needs to try the biryani from Arsalan soon!
Pictures: Rashbehari Das
