Ranbir Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra chat about Barfee on Friday evening. Picture by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya

He was here with his grandfather (Raj Kapoor) when he was small. He was here with Deepika Padukone when he was seeing her. And now thanks to Anurag Basu’s Barfee, Ranbir Kapoor’s Calcutta connection is stronger than ever.

“Great people, great locations, great food,” Ranbir Kapoor said about the city on Friday evening at Taj Bengal where the main star cast has camped for this leg of the shoot, which started on Tuesday and is expected to continue till next Tuesday. Even as Ranbir polishes off “three matkas of mishti doi everyday” and is in love with Arsalan’s biryani (“so much food is very harmful for actors like us”), he calls his Barfee babes — Bollywood hottie Priyanka Chopra and southern siren Ileana D’Cruz — rosogolla and gulab jamun!

If it’s not food, it’s football for Ranbir in Calcutta. “I have already made plans with Anurag Dada to come and watch the Messi match on September 2,” says the Barfee boy who is the Indian brand ambassador for FC Barcelona. “I am a fan and I have had the good fortune to meet him and take two photographs with him. I will be here purely as a fan.”

Looking fetching in a short sexy number, Priyanka didn’t seem to be gorging on local food as majorly as her Anjaana Anjaani co-star. “I am just happy to be finally shooting for Barfee,” she smiled.