Doesn’t the title sound like torture of my dear guest?
Rest assured it is but a fine gastronomic indulgence that the
all-day-dining 180 Degrees of star-rated hotel Grand Sarovar Premiere
(GSP) in Goregoan so lovingly meted out to my sweet guest, singer and
TV/film actor Tia Bajpai. Though I had never ever spoken to Tia before
approaching her in the initial stages of my column (she was away on
shoot to exotic international locations for Vikram Bhatt movie), she was
always approachable and cooperative, updating me with her schedules as
to when she would be free to dine with me.
It was more than 6 months and though I had not given up, her name had
settled on the ‘pending list’ page with the month of her availability
mentioned which I would have almost missed if it was not for a fleeting,
last minute browsing of my ‘to do’ pages. I called her up pronto and
was pleased to get her positive response for a lunch meet.
When I reached the venue at the appointed hour, the dynamic and
courteous GM of GSP, Ajoy Balkrishnan, joined me while I explored the
elaborate lunch buffet counters. The soup, salad and starters section
offered a plethora of exotic salads with a variety of dressings; pita
with hummus, babaganoush, muttabal; mouth-watering Indian starters of
fried idlis, dhoklas, aluwadis and vadas to the accompaniment of sambar,
green, sweet-n-sour and coconut chutneys.
The actor arrived a little late and apologized as she had got held up
in a meeting in Bandra. Tia appeared smartly dressed in black palazzos
teamed with a white full-sleeved top, her silky hair let loose and
flowing; I couldn’t miss the stylish Louis Vuitton handbag. After
introductions to GM Ajoy, she admired the restaurant for its interiors
a
nd I told her more was coming as I escorted her through the entire
gamut of the buffet.
As all actors are inclined to, Tia too went with salads on full swing
and just nibbled on some of the appetizers. The heat outside dictated
us to sip on delicious watermelon juice as we made little talk slowly
gravitating to her career moves and a bit on the personal front (I asked
her about the person she was supposed to be seeing – a hospital owner,
which she understandably declined talking about). “Music and singing is
my first love and I can never give that up, it’s second nature to me,”
said the pretty girl, adding, “acting happened with television serial Betiyaan and then films followed.”
Her original name Twinkle was changed to Tia by her filmi mentor Vikram Bhatt with whom she has done the horror flick Haunted 3D, Lanka (besides acting, she also sang for which she won Mirchi Music Award) and the sequel 1920: Evil Returns.
In all, with two of her three films already released having been hits,
Tia has little to worry about her career in Bollywood. Presently her new
film Identity Card based on Jammu-Kashmir, which is a
trilingual venture of Telugu, Kannada and Hindi, is awaiting release. As
I wonder if it is about terrorism and a black film, she assured me it
is about terrorism but dealt with in a humorous manner. As the actors
are from the respective industry in the regional languages, she has to
shoot them separately which explains the time taken for its release.
I was surprised to learn Tia’s parents are disciplinarians and that
her mom made sure she learnt aspects of domestic duties before venturing
into the glam world, which explains her knowledge to make pickles. Her
father who is into organizing events with celebs, made it clear to his
daughter that she should not look back once she has opted for a career
of her choice. I also learn she is keen to own a Vespa scooter and
navigate around the traffic in Mumbai. Ask her about the hungry wolves
in her profession, she avers, “I have been lucky to have a good and
decent director in Vikram Bhatt. Otherwise I believe the casting couch
does exist for beginners.”
About the short career span and attitude-throwing demands of this
industry, her dictum is: Sometimes you are the pigeon and other times
the statue! Well said, Tia!
After digging into the wide array of delectable main course of
interesting gravy dishes like Paneer Makhni, Dum Aloo, Subz Handi with
buttery garlic naans, we progressed to desserts. Tia loved Mung dal
halwa, Phirni and Rasmalai though she just tasted them. The vegetarian
actor expressed she was truly sated and appreciated the hospitality of
Grand Sarovar team. With that note and a lot of good wishes, I see her
off as Tia hops on to her sedan for another filmi meeting.
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