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A chef's delight is this spy
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Upcoming actor Sammir Dattani loves non-vegetarian food, sweets, and life
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PHOTO: SANDEEP SAXENA
FOODIE, ME? Sammir Dattani enjoying his meal at Ashok Hotel's China Town restaurant in New Delhi
"I am very hungry. Thanks for featuring me in this column. I will be able to eat on the pretext of giving an interview," says Sammir Dattani, chuckling like a little boy delighted at the sight of his favourite dish - chicken chilly.
He hurriedly digs into it sitting pretty at China Town, the Chinese restaurant at Ashok Hotel. He is really frank. "I am a real foodie but not a fussy one. I love spicy food more," he states, adding, "I am a food-lover because I have grown up visiting our family-owned restaurant called Silk Route in Mumbai. It serves Chinese and Oriental food. I often go there now also. I supervise cooking, give a few tips, make some changes in the spices used. It is being looked after by my father and brother," says Sammir as he spares a glance at the neatly done table with a tablecloth matched with the rose petals criss-crossing the candlelight reflecting in a bowl of water on it.
Sammir, who added one more `m' to his first name on his mother's insistence prior to the release of his debut film Rajshri Film's Uff Kya Jadoo Mohabbat Hai, says about this addition, "She is a great believer in numerology. I agreed to become Sammir on condition that if it doesn't work, I won't allow her to add more `i's or r's to my name. I believe in working hard, all `i's and `r's will follow," he laughs while taking a helping of potato tikki with sweet-and sour sauce to make it tangy.
In this dimly-lit restaurant built like an old fort, the most beautiful part are colourful stones kept under a glass cover on the floor.
The stones seem to emit light like a charcoal through a bulb hidden beneath. Enjoying this ambience, Sammir carries on, "I did try to cook at times. But the results were too bad to encourage me. But don't think I will starve if I have nobody to cook for me. I can prepare omelette, sandwiches, Maggie... "
As he switches over to vegetable sandwiches, he recalls an incident that turned him into a staunch non-vegetarian.
"My family is preferably vegetarian. But they never objected to non-vegetarian food. Once my friends duped me into it. They served me a dish which I liked so much that after having a full plate, I asked for one more. They started laughing. One of them revealed, `Jo tu paneer tikka samajh ke kha raha hai, vo chicken tikka hai. Ab bhi aur chahiye?' I was so overwhelmed by its taste that I nodded in agreement. From that day onwards, I turned a regular non-vegetarian though I still relish vegetarian food just because of habit. My parents also didn't object to my eating non-vegetarian food."
There are few things that are little known about this hero of director Mani Shankar's forthcoming film Mukhbir, currently at post-production stage. He is playing an informer in the film.
Did you know?
This commerce graduate from HR College of Economics and Commerce, Mumbai (well, HR, he tells us mischievously, is nick-named as House of Romance by outsiders), was a national-level roller skater who represented Mumbai. He is a grade one student of Piano from Trinity College, U.K.
He is nicknamed Tom Cruise by his friends in the film industry and college. "I was really flattered when I heard it first," he recalls trying fish cutlets. Many say he looks like a clone of Zayed Khan too. He was that six-year-old boy in that `energy bank' advertisement with Sunil Gavaskar.
"I have done seven ads. By the time I was 15, I knew I wanted to act. I did get some offers after Uff... , but didn't go for them. I anyway looked `sixteenish' in it. So I decided to give a pause," says this 25-year-old smiling at chocolate mouse arriving on his table for the dessert.
"Ummm! I love sweets. I think I have a huge sweet tooth. I can survive only on sweets, chocolates, mango mouse, gur... ," like a child he prefers to have a bite.
He may not be an audiences' delight as yet, but is definitely one for the chef.
RANA SIDDIQUI
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