What do you call your mother’s sister’s daughter in Bengali, asks Priyanshu Chatterjee. But don’t let that lead you to believe that the Tum Bin star, who has been born and brought up in Delhi, has lost touch with Calcutta.

“How can I? All my summer and Puja vacations were spent in Calcutta with my didima and a host of other relatives and friends,” reveals the actor high on the success of Julie (“They are calling it a superhit in Mumbai,” he exclaims), having piggybacked on the most-talked-about back in Bollywood.

But that doesn’t stop him from turning the pages of the past. “I used to stay near Hazra Law College and play a lot of street cricket. The best times though were the Puja holidays when we would hop around from pandal to pandal. I still get goosebumps when I recall how we were rushing around when the Park Circus puja caught fire while we were inside the mandap.”

Priyanshu has been to Calcutta in the past few years for his modelling assignments and then for the promotions of Tum Bin and Pinjar. “I really wanted to come to promote Julie but it didn’t work out at the last moment,” rues the model-turned-actor.

The actor has two other biggies lined up for release. There’s Tanveer Khan’s Madhoshi with hot bods Bipasha Basu and John Abraham and then there is Tanuja Chandra’s Filmstar, alongside Mahima Chaudhuri and Vasundhara Das.

And surprise, surprise our Bangali bhadralok has two of the most steamy songs in the two films with both Bipasha and Mahima. “I wasn’t uncomfortable at all,” says Priyanshu. “As a professional actor, you have to do a lot of things and a steamy number is just one of them.”

If that whets the appetites of the Calcutta crowds that have “always been favourable” to him, it’s a different kind of hunger that drives Priyanshu back to the city. “I must confess I am a major foodie and you can’t beat Calcutta when it comes to food. I can never get over the amazing street fare on offer there, whether it is the chicken and egg rolls or the phuchkas. They are just too good,” he feels.

And here’s a tip-off: Priyanshu could soon have ample opportunity to sample the city street food when he camps here, not for pleasure, but for work!