He understands the hunger

Prasoon Joshi is not judgmental when it comes to culinary and creative choices

March 25, 2015 07:42 pm | Updated March 26, 2015 08:16 pm IST

Writer, poet, lyricist and screenwriter Prasoon Joshi. Photo: Shiv Kumar Pushpakar

Writer, poet, lyricist and screenwriter Prasoon Joshi. Photo: Shiv Kumar Pushpakar

He might take hours to arrive at the right expression but when it comes to food, Prasoon Joshi doesn’t aspire for perfection. “I am the least fussy about food. I am brought up in a very non-fussy family. I often tell my daughter whatever was kept in front of us we had to eat. We came home from school and there was food on the table. It was never like aaj menu main kya hai . The mother would go to the market, buy some seasonal vegetables that she considered good for her family and the family would happily eat it. It was only once in a while that we would say mere liye yeh banao . Some of the people that I interact with today are very fussy about food,” says Joshi, who was recently honoured with Padmashri. It is breakfast time and we are Threesixty degrees restaurant of the New Delhi’s iconic The Oberoi, which is completing 50 years. Joshi is in a mood to try something light. So he starts with poha even as South Indian platter gets ready.

“We were taught to respect food a lot. Wastage was not accepted. My father used to keep reminding me that there are so many people who don’t get even two square meals,” reminisces the lyricist from Almora. “It was not that middle class families are not conscious about food. They are particular about where the milk comes from or the source of grains. The only thing is they are not well-versed with exotic stuff. When I was young momo was not big in Almora. We used to have chaat and aloo ke gutke with raita.” Joshi has come a long way. Today he calls himself an explorer. “I am very keen to understand cultures. There is a curious child in me that explores. When I go abroad for work I tell the team not to treat me as an outsider. I try the local food,” says the regional creative director for Asia Pacific of McCann Worldgroup. But after some time the small town boy in him makes his presence felt. “And I sneak out to the local Indian restaurant and ask the chef to prepare simple dal chawal.” This is what he describes as comfort food. “ Ya jab main kantaal jaata hoon (when he doesn’t like doing anything) I ask for my old quilt, faded T-shirt and my comfort food.”

The word kantaal from Marathi is a new addition to Joshi’s ever growing vocabulary. “I don’t mind using SMS but not at the cost of sandesh . We require both the words. When a word dies the whole experience associated with it dies. For basic conversation you don’t require many words but if you want to express the minute human emotions you require a lot of words and we have a healthy vocabulary and I don’t mind addition to it from regional languages. Lyricists face lot of pressure because some people feel that they know what people want. When I used masti ki pathshala people objected to it but it worked with youngsters.”

The explorer in him thrives because of the creative soul in him pushes him to. “Before I form an opinion about anything I have to examine it myself. I am not one of those who feel that dal could be cooked only in one way. When I came to Mumbai and started exploring, a North India friend said you will never be able to enjoy Gujarati dal but over a period of time I developed a taste for it. I have not been judgemental. And that is my approach in life in general. For me unexamined truth is not the truth.” And it is not something that he has inherited. “My father is still eating the same food but when he was transferred to Lucknow and later Rampur I developed fondness for Mughlai cuisine. Today I am a vegetarian but I know what good Mughlai food is.”

Having lived in a hostel, Joshi can only cook to survive but cooking and painting are two arts that he wants to learn. “The patience you require for cooking is a special talent and one day I want to develop it.” Meanwhile, he finds the vada very attractive and shares it with me before moving on to dosa.

He calls the people who can cook as annadata and has a story to share. “There was a time when my friend ZAP and I used to travel in the hills without making any reservations. We used to believe that we will find some way or the other. Once bus broke down and by the time we reached Mukteshwar it was dark. After walking for hours we reached a government guest house. It was completely quiet. We looked for the chowkidar and knocked at his door. He was half asleep and I tried my Kumaoni on him. He said let me see if he could find a room for us. With folded hands we asked if he could give us something to eat. And after looking at us for some time he said aap sachmuch main bhooke hain! And then he made churkani, a soyabean kind of dal, and rice. I felt he was god in the middle of the night. We don’t often realise the value of hunger because before your body tells you, you have already eaten.”

When he is writing, Joshi says he indulges in lot of unmindful eating and ends up putting on weight. “Food is something that I keep in mind when I am shaping my characters as well. Like in Bhaag Milkha Bhaag , milk and ghee were intrinsic part of characterisation and it establishes the value of both these products in our society,” reflects Joshi sipping watermelon juice.

On the growing debate on freedom of expression, Joshi says that a filmmaker is not a magician who brings the rabbit out from the hat. “That entertainer doesn’t have social responsibility. But someone, who takes stories from your life, from the lives of your sister and brother then he must be sensitive towards you. You might not agree with him but his intent should be right. I don’t believe that at the end of the film audience don’t take anything home. A filmmaker is reflecting and shaping the society as well and for that sensitivity is required. Most of the filmmakers I work with have it. So I feel one should not try and reach a stage where the certification process becomes like a computer programme. That you put your reals and after some beep sounds you get the certificate.” There is a fear of self censorship. “Art like water will always find its way. If we were not openly talking about it then there was need to be worried,” assures Joshi before signing off.

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