The perfect brew

From Ganesh Dhaba to Dharamshala Film Festival, Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam’s cinematic journey has some amazing culinary flourishes

January 06, 2016 09:56 pm | Updated September 22, 2016 10:27 pm IST

Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam at Paatra restaurant in New Delhi’s Jaypee Vasant Continental Photo Shiv Kumar Pushpakar

Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam at Paatra restaurant in New Delhi’s Jaypee Vasant Continental Photo Shiv Kumar Pushpakar

So long as you have food in your mouth, you have solved all questions for the time being. One discovered the value of this Kafka quote while talking to Tenzing Sonam. The Tibetan filmmaker is the better half of Ritu Sarin. The duo is known for path-breaking documentaries on issues of identity and giving independent cinema a platform in the form of Dharamshala Film Festival. “On food there is no controversy,” says Tenzing as one asks him about the strong Chinese influence on Tibetan food. “Traditionally, all the rich and aristocratic people had chefs coming in from China. The Chinese food is always considered much superior than Tibetan food. Even now, we don’t mind admitting that we like Chinese food. In fact, the Dalai Lama often jokes that our religion and culture came from India but in food China is much better.” Having said that Ritu adds, “The Dalai Lama also eats a lot of Indian food.”

Of course. We are at Jaypee Vasant Continental’s Paatra restaurant and the third angle of the culinary discourse is on full display. From paneer tikka to murgh angar, there is plenty to extinguish the fire in the belly. The couple starts with tomato shorba. “We are extremely passionate about healthy food. In Dharamshala we grow our own vegetables and we have a cow. I think we can make a film on food,” Ritu thinks aloud.

She has no hesitation in accepting that she is the least of the cook at home. “He is the chef of the family. If Tenzing completely runs out of ideas, which is rare, I come up with something. I know how to cook. It can be a good soup or pasta.”

But it was not always the case. When the two met as students in the U.S., Ritu used to head the kitchen. “Those days in the U.S. there were very few Indian restaurants. As we needed money, we used to sell Indian food at Himalayan fare. Two of us and a French friend and an American used to have a stall and I was the head chef,” Ritu reminisces. “Chicken curry, matar paneer, lassi, dal, I prepared it all,” she goes on before Tenzing chips in, “We called it Ganesh Dhaba.”

“We sold all our food meant for the two-day event in one day as we had more than a thousand American guests. So for the second day I had to cook all night all over again,” Ritu relives the intensity of the moments. Mind you it all happened much before Queen was conceived!

Tenzing, who was born and brought up in Darjeeling before moving to Delhi for education, accepts Tibetan delicacies haven’t assumed five star status. They are no longer confined to Majnu ka Tila but we still haven’t moved beyond momos and tupka.

“In Tibet we don’t have many vegetables. It is a very meat-heavy diet. It is mostly like boiled meat with not many spices. It is not very interesting food. These days, of course, Tibetan food is synonymous with momos and tupka.” Ritu differs. “His mother is an excellent Tibetan chef and despite coming from a different culinary background I find the food amazing. There are different types of noodles, soups and shabakleb, the mini meat parantha.” Over the years, Tenzing accepted the vegetarian side of Indian food so much so that his lunch is vegetarian. Here he has developed a bond with paneer lababdar and shadras sabziyan.

Besides, the best in Independent cinema, the Dharamshala festival also gives them an opportunity to open a window of the Himachali food to the world. “We have Himachali-style samosa and last year we laid out dham, where nine different kinds of vegetable dishes are served in the traditional Himachali style.”

A tea person, Ritu’s association with the beverage goes back a long way. “After graduating from Miranda House, I wanted to be in a job where I could see the world. It was not easy those days. Fortunately, the Tea Board of India was looking for people for its office in Brussels. Three girls were selected and I was one of them. We were sent to tea gardens to understand the process. The job required me to wear sari. So I can wear a sari,” Ritu underlines it as much as her ability to cook. The job introduced her to Europe and its cinema. “I saved up some money to do masters in films from California College of Arts but I still like good tea and it is still hard to get good Darjeeling tea.”

Meanwhile, the duo has just completed an exhibition of video installations with Khoj Studios and working on The Sweet Requiem . It was selected for the co-production market in the last year’s NFDC’s Film Bazaar in Goa. “It is about a young Tibetan woman who lives in South Delhi. When she was eight-year-old, she escaped from Tibet with her father. All these years she has suppressed the memories of the painful journey where she lost her father. But one day when she comes across the guide who helped before dumping them at the final hurdle at Majnu Ka Tila, she once again starts searching for answers. She wants to confront him. It talks about what is means to be a young Tibetan refugee in India. What is your identity,” reflects Tenzing. The theme of identity has not been new to the couple. In fact it is a running motif in all their works. Tenzing recalls their first film – a joint thesis project called The New Puritans: The Sikhs of Yuba City. “It was about Sikhs living in this Canadian city.”

“She starts off with a sense of anger towards the man but at the end she comes to terms and accepts him. There is a sense of reconciliation. She has to let go and move on,” adds Ritu.

For now it is time to move on to kulfi and malpua and despite being on one plate both manage to retain their identities.

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