Saturday night saw an unexpected guest landing in the city. While Ranbir Kapoor and Bipasha Basu were expected to hit town for a Bachna Ae Haseeno promotional bout, their co-passenger was not slated to board the Delhi-Calcutta flight.
But Deepika Padukone could not spend a day without her beau, and just as Saif-Kareena had stormed the city together a few months back, so did Bollywood’s current hottest couple Ranbir-Deepika. He in a casual green T-shirt, she in a gorgeous red gown.
“I didn’t plan to come here…,” confessed Deepika when Metro got in touch with her on Sunday afternoon.
That wasn’t too difficult with the Om Shanti Om beauty holed up in her room at the ITC The Sonar, even as Ranbir and Bipasha went to Fame (South City) to talk about their film, which releases this Friday.
Deepika, although a part of the film, was, however, in no mood for work, having already done her promotion bit in Delhi on Saturday evening. “I didn’t have to do anything here… it’s been a relaxing trip,” she smiled. When asked whether it was Ranbir’s company that brought her to Calcutta, Deepika chose to play safe. “I am really fond of Calcutta and I have been to the city many, many times before. So, it’s been good… eating a lot of local food.”
The eating started on Saturday night itself when Ranbir, Deepika and Bipasha hit the Sonar coffee shop Eden Pavilion for a true-blue Bengali dinner. Luchi, kasha mangsho, galda chingri, sandesh, mishti doi… they had little to complain about.
“Oh, we called from Delhi to fix the menu,” laughed Bipasha. The erstwhile Mandeville Gardens girl, in fact, guided Ranbir and Deepika through the Bengali menu, explaining to them the importance of chholar dal with luchi.
But Deepika didn’t share her saawariya’s love for mishti doi. While Raj Kapoor’s grandson confessed “I just love rosogolla and mishti doi”, Prakash Padukone’s daughter didn’t approve of the taste, almost jumping out of her seat when Ranbir spooned a tiny bit into her mouth.
Bipasha, on the other hand, gorged on all the mishti on offer.
Sunday lunch was at Peshawari for the Bachna... trio, accompanied by the film’s director Siddharth Raj Anand. It was a welcome meal for Ranbir and Bipasha after all the scuffles and brawls they were witness to at Fame (South City), where theplex audience and journalists all wanted their share of the stars.
Dipika Padukone, however, just chilled at the hotel, away from the madding crowd, waiting for her Ranbir to return to her so they could fly back to Mumbai together in the evening.
“I did the film (Bachna...) for many other reasons but yes it’s true that it was during the shooting that I met Ranbir and that is the reason it will always stay special to me,” smiled the lady in love.
