MY KOLKATA EDUGRAPH
ADVERTISEMENT
Regular-article-logo Thursday, 03 July 2025

Fishy tales

He loves having his hilsa. She loves cooking her hilsa. Ritwick and Paoli stir it up for their food film Maacher Jhol 

TT Bureau Published 12.08.17, 12:00 AM
Paoli Dam rustles up maachher jhol for her co-star Ritwick Chakraborty at 6 Ballygunge Place. Their film Maacher Jhol will be served up on August 18

Masterchef Dev D (Ritwick Chakraborty in Pratim D. Gupta’s film Maacher Jhol, which releases on August 18) and his wife Sreela (Paoli Dam) walked into 6 Ballygunge Place just as the sky had turned a nice dull grey. The rain had stopped. And Sreela decided to surprise the man behind a couple of Michelin-star restaurants. Taking up khunti position, she rustled up a mean maachher jhol just for the star chef. Dev D’s verdict? “It was delicious!” Food fun over, Dev D and Sreela quickly stepped out of character and chatted with t2 as Ritwick and Paoli!  

Paoli: I cooked ilish maachh last Sunday. At one point of time cooking was my hobby. I would cook on a regular basis... like Continental, grilled items, things that take only a few minutes to make... fast to cook... I don’t have the patience to cook for long hours. And when you are cooking fish there’s a trick… you have to fry it less to get the maximum flavour. So I made the ilish maachher jhol with kaalo jire, kaancha lonka, begun, daanta, kumro, which takes me around half an hour. Only the begun takes time to cook. 

Is cooking a stress buster for you?

Paoli: I like to cook. The stress buster would be watching films! 
Ritwick: I can cook too... I started cooking for practical reasons. The moment I started living away from home on my own I had to start cooking. Once that necessity went away, I did not cook for a long time. But sometimes I miss that. 
Paoli: You need to be in the mood for cooking....
Ritwick: Yes yes. My culinary skills lie in whipping up chicken and mutton dishes. I am not comfortable cooking fish. I feel that if I have to make it, then I need a helmet, armour! That’s why I don’t try it, out of fear (goes LOL). But I am hooked to hilsa... love it.  
Paoli: As a child, I had made parathas. I was in a joint family, and our cook was really good. I learnt everything from him. 
Ritwick: It is really tough to make the round rotis! 
Paoli: For the Halka shoot, I had to make rotis. Thankfully, all those lessons from my childhood came to my rescue. The Halka team were full of praise, saying that I make nice round rotis!
 
So Ritwick, what was your first reaction when you got to know that you’ll play a masterchef in Maacher Jhol? 

Ritwick: The funny part is that I have not mastered the art of cooking yet! I played a violin player in a film (The Violin Player) but I am no expert in that either.

Pratim had told t2 that Ritwick is such a fine actor that he almost made his co-star, the katla fish, act! Here, the pabda fills in for the katla! 

The idea is to make it look convincing…

Ritwick: Yeah, and I want to achieve that. It’s not that I want to master the violin. Of course it would have been great if I could do that... but having six months is not enough to master the violin.  
How much time did you get to learn the violin for the film?
Ritwick: I got about 10 days. And the person who taught me had learnt it from age four. But for those 10 days I studied the violin from morning to night. The violin looks small but it is so complicated. For the shoot, I had to play the pieces. And of course the noise was so grating. It was really difficult to be moved by my violin playing! (Laughs)
Paoli: I was supposed to play the cello in a film and they gave it to me two hours before the shoot. I was like, ‘What is this?’ I would have loved to learn the instrument days before the scene. Then you feel it would have been great if I really knew how to play it. 
Ritwick: The same theory applies when I am playing a masterchef. I have to make it look convincing.  

Did you have cooking questions for Pratim?

Ritwick: Yes, I asked him what I had to learn... he told me to do some chopping.
Paoli: That’s really difficult! 
Ritwick: Chefs were always around on the sets when I was doing those scenes. Also, I had watched YouTube videos and picked up stuff. 

Fish is my life, and I had to do this film. People call me mechho... maybe I was a cat in my past life! I was very happy that Pratim was using the name Maacher Jhol in a Bengali film. The content is beautiful and the name is unique — Paoli

Did you read up on masterchefs and their styles?

Ritwick: Otota gobhire jaini. I did just what was necessary for the role. 
Paoli: You also had to learn French... 
Ritwick: Yes, French words. I knew the word ‘monsieur’ from before. And I learnt more which I can’t recall right now (laughs).
Paoli: I went on pause mode when Pratim told me about this film. Fish is my life, and I had to do this film. People call me mechho... maybe I was a cat in my past life! I was very happy that Pratim was using the name Maacher Jhol in a Bengali film. The content is beautiful and the name is unique. People will really connect with this. This is a true food film. Food is the main character. And I really liked the script. 

What’s the best part about Pratim the director?

Paoli: He is so cool. 
Ritwick: His coolness was attractive. I have seen him maintain his cool during the Shaheb Bibi Golaam shoot. And there I had to drive a taxi.

And word from the SBG set was that you are not the best driver in the world!

Ritwick: I am a really bad driver. I can only somehow drive to do a scene. If I am in a car, my thoughts wander. I tend to drift away. So I can’t do that in the driver’s seat. Pratim asked me to learn driving, I tried. But I was really tense. And I knew my acting would suffer. There’s a memory of an accident (when he was learning how to drive) that comes rushing back.
And for Maacher Jhol, Pratim asked me to learn French! And I was like, ‘How will I learn a whole language for a shoot?’ Learning a new language is a different deal altogether.

As actors, both of you are considered to be among the best we have. Was there any sense of competition on the sets?

Ritwick: No, we have worked together before. But I feel the great work hasn’t happened with her yet. We had done a telefilm together maybe six years ago, and that was pretty good.
Paoli: Whatever is there in Maacher Jhol is just apt for this movie. The film is not just about Dev D and Sreela.... Pratim’s ideas and content are just great (Ritwick nods in agreement).  
  
Do you ever feel the pressure to deliver your best every time in each film?  

Paoli: I feel nervous on the first day of the shoot (smiles). I don’t think anyone else can make out what I am feeling. 
Ritwick: I take around two days to get accustomed to the new team of people.
Paoli: And I try to tell the directors to keep it light on the first day! 
Ritwick: Of course if I know the director, or I am comfortable working with him and his team, then it becomes really easy.
Paoli: Workshops help. But that doesn’t happen too often here. Since that process doesn’t happen, the actors often get to meet each other on the sets. I often avoid watching the monitor on the first day of the shoot. 
Ritwick: I am somehow never happy with my performance in my films... I’m way too critical of myself. I watch my films in the theatre, and the viewing pattern is so odbhut that I can’t explain it. I can’t focus on the film, I only see my faults. 
Paoli: Seriously... I am also like, ‘Why didn’t I do this or that’...
Ritwick: I have realised something recently. If I watch my film one-and-a-half years after the release then I’ll be able to watch it in a neutral, objective manner.   

Arindam Chatterjee
Pictures: Rashbehari Das 

Follow us on:
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT