Amritsari tadka with evergreen Navni Parihar

Check the slideshow above Noble antecedents – mother from the royal Rana family of Nepal, aunts and in-laws are from blue-blooded families of Tripura, Manipur and Rajasthan; related to Manvendra Singh Gohil from the royal family of erstwhile princely state of Rajpipla; Post Grad in sociology; Debut on television with yesteryear’s versatile silver screen actors Nutan and Utpal Dutt in Mujrim Haazir Ho; films opposite the likes of Vinod Khanna and Raj Babbar; essayed our late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in Shekar Kapoor anchored documentary Pradhanmantri; recently seen in a pivotal role on Bani Ishq Da Kalma on Colors channel… her latest appearance is in Arshad Warsi-Soha Ali starrer Joe V Carvelho…a mother of two lovely daughers….phew that’s quite a handful. Rather a lexicon of achievements as my guest for lunch this week is the gentle, mellow, graceful and never-aging beauty Navni Parihar. After a few cancellations of eateries, I zeroed in on the newly launched North Indian restaurant Amritsari Tadka in Linking Road, Khar and both of us were extremely happy with the final choice. The reason being the food here turned out to be delicious and yummy beyond our expectations. This place is equally famous for its North Indian offerings as well as Oriental and Continental specialties. Though the evergreen actor is given to non-veg delicacies, on certain days, she goes vegetarian and she happened to be a vegetarian that day. Beverage Manager Vilas Gupta served us two different drinks – Sly Mongoos with a citrus touch of kiwi and mango slush appeared to be a thick concoction and Red Monsoon was a mocktail of cranberry, litchi and a hint of ginger. The actor went with the latter as she felt the mango drink was a bit on the heavier side. I can count on my fingers the few actors who have survived the onslaught of everyday entrants on the television scene for acting. Despite her age bracket, Navni gets meaty character roles and she is happy with the far and few works she has done as she puts it, “I have never been ambitious. Acting in films and television happened by chance and I went with the flow. I have been very lucky to have got the projects I did.” Having entered after marriage, did the reputation of film industry affect her family life? ‘Not at all. I had made it clear and had my dos and don’ts in films,” clarifies the dignified lady. Owner Anil Singh Arora (though he couldn’t be present due to unavoidable events), Operations Manager Avtar Singh and his team were welcoming and generous to the point of flooring us with innumerable appetizers from the orient like Chinese Crispy Corn & Waterchestnut, Paneer Blast, Paneer Chilli Blast, Chinese Coriander Tofu and Indian starters too. “Weekly shows earlier gave us actors enough time to interact with each other, rehearse passionately and involved team work. Work was not taxing but in recent times, the schedules of daily soaps are at a maddening pace and you just have to deliver. We don’t have the luxury of discussing a scene and making it beautiful,” bemoans the Rajput lady on the present trend of daily shows. It is predominantly Amritsari for the main course of our lunch and we go with Mgr Avtar Singh’s suggestions of Methi Mutter Malai, Subzi Lajawab and Veg Kolhapuri out of which the former two were excellent to the palate but we unanimously felt Veg Kolhapuri did not do justice to its origin (generally this dish is known to be fiery). The accompanying Amritsari Naan was crumbly with melt-in-the-mouth texture, the reason being the dough is prepared only with oil to the exemption of water – “Too calorific,” observed Navni. Nevertheless we could not resist the food at Amritsari Tadka. Sweet ending assaulted us in the form of yummilicious crisp Jalebis with Rabdi and Malai Kulfi Falooda – besides both the mithais the food at Amritsari Tadka scored high on our eat-o-meter. In all it was a nostalgic afternoon for I have known Navni for many years now….from the beginning of the career of both of us which was simultaneous - both are late bloomers (Der se aaye par durust aaye types) and we like to keep it that way!. Rapid fire with Navni Parihar Foodie? Fave cuisine….. junk food you can’t resist… fave sweet dish.. I am a big foodie. My fav. cuisine is Indian cuisine. I can’t resist chaat. Rasmalai is my fav. Sweet dish. Do you cook? Your specialty dish .. I like cooking .. my specialty dishes are daal-baati and mutton biryani (hmm tempting). A reality show you would like to take part in… Hmmm.. shaayad .. Jhalak (Dikhhla Jaa). Secret to wedded bliss… Patience and space. You splurge on… are you brand conscious? ... I am not brand conscious, I splurge on sarees. You are paranoid about… Safety of my family. Die-hard habit… Cleanliness. A habit you wish to kick… Eating sweets. Fitness mantra… Eat whatever you want to eat but exercise. Beauty secret… Drink lots and lots of water . What kind of mom are you… Indulgent but strict. Your pet peeve.. (a quality you hate in a person) ... Body odour. High point of your life… Actually there are two high points ... birth of my daughters. Low point of your life… Losing my elder sister, Susmita. Advantage of being an actor... Living a hundred lives in this one life. One thing few people know about you… I have done my M.A. in social works and used to teach dance to deaf and mute children.