The evening began with chief guest, multidisciplinary artiste Sujoy Prasad Chatterjee, addressing the audience and introducing the event. ‘The meeting of the culinary scape of Rabindranath Tagore’s oeuvre of work and Rituparno Ghosh’s cinema is interesting. The flavours and emotions coming together in a seven-course dinner is titillating. I am glad that the first edition of ‘Queering Tagore’ is of this stature,’ said Chatterjee
RobiBar-A Ritu was the first edition of Banerjee and Roy’s ‘Queering Tagore’ series which combines literature, performance, and culinary arts. Explaining the same, Barnamala Roy said: ‘These programmes will involve queer retellings of Tagore’s works with inputs and real-life stories from individuals of the LGBTQIA+ community from different parts of the country’
The smoky and creamy dessert — Red Grapes and Bandel Cheese Ice Cream topped with Gondhoraj marmalade, was hidden in a white chocolate dome. Much like Rudra’s hidden desire to be a woman and a mother in ‘Chitrangada’. Chef Dyuti brought about her creativity and innovation to this dessert by using Bandel cheese in a sweet dish
The meal was concluded with a chocolate paan where the betel leaf carefully hid a delectable Gulkand chocolate ganache, much like the desires of the characters from the films. Speaking to My Kolkata, the chef said: ‘Curating this menu made me explore this synesthetic juncture between cinema and food, queerness and desires, and unattainability and fulfilment. It was a one-of-a-kind experience and something that I would like to do more in future’
The event was a unique experience for the diners. Shyona Mitra, a yoga instructor, said: ‘It was a one-of-a-kind event, where we were truly eating cinema and viewing it through food.’ Signing off, the curator of the programme, Roy said: ‘The next event will be in early-2025, which is a multisensory play in four acts based on a novel by Tagore’
