On December 2, Rajinikanth’s family members assembled at 5.30 am to participate in Bhima Ratha Shanthi, a ritual to celebrate the beginning of the star’s 70th year, which was organised at his residence.
“Ahead of the event, his daughter Soundarya was in discussion with me about the menu for the event,” says Sridhar Natarajan of Arusuvai Caterers, adding, “She was keen on putting together an unusual menu for her Appa’s Bhima Ratha Shanthi. She was the one who came up with the idea of a fusion menu. Based on her suggestion, I tried out some delicacies, and after some trial and error, I met her with the menu.”
“Since Superstar’s all-time favourite is paal payasam , we included it in the menu. Instead of serving rice and gravy separately, we decided to serve different types of variety rice,” Sridhar says.
The spread included bisibelebath , gongura rice, vatha kuzhambu rice, vegetable biryani , rasam and curd rice. A variety of vegetable chips were served as accompaniments.
Vatha kuzhambu and rasam sadam are Thalaivar’s favourites, he reveals. Apart from this, Sridhar and his team came up with other innovative dishes such as Nagpur’s orange-flavoured rasagulla made with fresh oranges; nendran and pineapple stuffed ela ada , Kerala style.
The menu also included mini dosas stuffed with avocados, seasoned with salt and chilli flakes.
It was not all fusion, though. Soundarya also insisted that sabudana vada be part of the menu, as it is typically Marathi.
“I have been catering for each and every function in Superstar’s home. During Deepavali, I go to his residence along with my staff to make sweets and bakshanams ,” says Sridhar. “Sir used to come to the kitchen to see what’s happening late in the night and ask each of us if we’d had our dinner. He would also ask us to listen to good music since we worked all night.”
