A container of the butter chicken; Iran Bharat Saxena

Hyderabad, Nov. 8: For Rs 6,000, one can buy a digital camera, book a room at a star hotel for a night in a metro, get air tickets on apex fare. For Rs 6,000, one can also get a portion of butter chicken.

The place to buy from is Anaarkali in Hyderabad and it can only be ordered online.

A software professional, who owns an SMS solutions platform, claims to have perfected a process to cook tasty butter chicken, the ubiquitous dish that is available on any Indian menu anywhere in the world.

Iran-born Iran Bharat Saxena, the brain behind Anaarkali, has been an ardent fan of butter chicken and says he has “perfected the art after eight years of experiments”. He has named the dish after his favourite film heroine, Anarkali of Mughal-e-Azam.

And like the opulent film, once the costliest made in India, Saxena’s creation of passion carries a high price tag: Rs 6,000. The chicken comes laced with real gold and silver foil and serves two.

Saxena insists that cooking butter chicken has been a hobby for him and his team and they do not seek to make money or profit from their distinctive creation.

“Even in the present package, we return Rs 800 (in cash) along with the delivery of our product to the customer towards charity,” he said.

Their website, www.anaarkali.in, gives a list of the ingredients used and a break-up of the cost, and claims that the promoters retain a 33.39 per cent margin, which works out to Rs 1,736.72. “That is towards the cost of our eight years of research and experimentation,” Saxena said.

“Everything is prepared and also delivered in a handcrafted container to the customer,” he says.

But in a city hit by the economic downturn and layoffs, curiosity about Anaarkali has not resulted in people going for it. Since its launch, Anaarkali has had only one order, delivered in October, and has bagged four for this month. But Saxena has refused to give out the name of the person who ordered in keeping with the company’s policy of maintaining customer privacy.

“All bookings have come through our publicity and advertising on Facebook and Google,” said Padma Prasad, an MBA who is a co–founder of the project and looks after the nitty-gritty.

Would the price come as a sticker shock for customers?

The Anaarkali team defended the price tag and also the charity motto that went with it. “In India, people are ready to pay any price for quality and a good cause,” insisted Saxena.

“We have listed all the ingredients used on our website and also the process, but for sake of our copyright, we have not indicated the measurements,” Saxena said.

The butter chicken experiment, however, has left a bitter taste in the mouth for Saxena. “I am beginning to understand that passion not only is a rare trait but is grossly misunderstood too,” Saxena says on his website. Saxena says it appeared a section of people thought he was in the business to make money. To prove them wrong, he says, Anaarkali butter chicken would be sold only till December 1. Thereafter, the dish will be prepared solely for charitable purposes.

Those wishing to get a taste will have to pay the Akshaya Patra Foundation, an organisation that provides free meals to the poor.

The cost? Rs 1 lakh for four.