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Jaffrey in a jiffy
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Meet Madhur Jaffrey who has more than one identity to call her own
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Food and filmsMadhur Jaffrey
Madhur Jaffrey is not your idea of a successful actor. She is barely seen in Bollywood; straddles the U.K. and the U.S. on acting assignments, but doesn’t quite do the usual Hollywood flick. She has no airs of a successful actor, her armour is perhaps ‘the cutest younger sister’ brand of a smile, and well, she is petite. Not your idea of a tall, trim, glamorous toast of a party, flaunting the latest fashion. In fact, Madhur, going strong at 74 now, can run for ‘the same hair-do for the last 50 years contest’ if there is one.
Jokes aside, she is perhaps one of India’s time-tested exports in the field of acting to the West. Someone who broke the invisible glass ceiling long before the Aishwaryas and the Shilpas were even born. Often seen in Ivory-Merchant films, Madhur can be credited with bringing these two greats together, which eventually gave us movies such as “Cotton Mary”, “Heat and Dust” and “The Perfect Murder”.
Flashing that familiar broad smile, Madhur says, “Oh, that’s true. We were all friends. I met James (Ivory) first and then Ismail (Merchant). I used to tell them, ‘why don’t you both get together and make films?’ It was in 1959. My God, ages ago!”
Parallel career
Madhur also runs a parallel career of a successful food writer. Often hailed for introducing Indian curries to the British kitchen, her numerous books on Indian cooking are as famous as her cookery shows, be it on the BBC (way back in the 1980s) or on Discovery Travel and Living which was beamed in India recently.
Why do Westerners find Asian cuisine increasingly attractive? “Well, it is not just the dishes. Related things like the techniques used in cooking interest them. And that is why there’s a lot of buzz around Japanese, Malaysian, Thai and Indian food and a bit of interest in Chinese food too.”
At present writing yet another tome on Indian cuisine, (“You will see it in 2009”), she points out there has been little experimentation in Indian cuisine by Indian chefs.
Real Indian food
“Most of the fusion food is being done by the western chefs. Take Cinammon Club in London. It doesn’t have the real Indian food but a touch of it for that feel of exotica. Both this type of modification of Indian cuisine is a trend now.” She then relates her experience of having a great meal in the Maldives some time ago where an Australian chef laid a variety of fusion food on the table. “She did a marvellous job of fusing Australian food with our South Indian food.”
Most regional Indian cuisine, she agrees, is high on taste but low on presentation. “In Daawat, (an Indian restaurant in New York to which she is attached as a food consultant) we particularly try to present the dishes in an interesting manner,” she says.
Tired of eating British food while studying drama at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, Madhur, then 19, tried her hand at cooking more out of necessity than love. Her mother used to send letters full of recipes from Delhi to try out home-cooked food. “I still have her aerogrammes,” she says.
Madhur has not only passed on her interest in cooking to her three daughters but to her grandchildren too. “All my grandchildren (between nine and 15 years) cook well, particularly my eldest grandson,” says the proud granny.
Besides, her free time is now occupied more by movie commitments than plays. “I am now involved in three movies - “Freebee in Wonderland”, “Partition” and a Canadian film,” she states. Also, she is “thinking of doing a cookery show on TV again.” Ask her whether she ever thinks of retiring from work, and she almost jumps from her seat, replying with a laugh, “My God! What will I do then?”
SANGEETA BAROOAH PISHAROTY
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