Love for Peshawar

[Karachi]

This is a Kapoor family (bollywood) relative, she is in tears talking about Peshawar, she calls it the best place

[Karachi]

It's really sad what extremism has done to these places, Peshawar indeed was known as the best place back in the day, even far away in India my own grand parents use to hear stories about it of how beautiful it was

such a sad state today, obviously Pakistani government/army/administration has a huge blame in this. They destroyed all the good there was in all places, even in their own punjab

[DaZahroJaam.]

our memories of places have nothing to do with the place it's self but who we were during the times we spent there and who we were surrounded by. i used to feel so nostalgic about kabul until i went back there in 2009 after 16 years. .when i was there, there were fields of green bushes and knocked down houses. i hate it now. the streets feel strange and the people are bewildered. the buildings are fancier now. they even have security cameras all over the streets with fancy street light stands and benches for people to sit on in the afternoons but it's not the same.. it makes you shudder.. i guess it's different when you live a large portion of your life in one place.

[Karachi]

^ That is true, I guess for these guys they couldn't go back to Peshawar after Pakistan was formed, so for these childhood memories were even more stronger compared to a regular person who can go back to his/her home

[Golden]

^ That is true, I guess for these guys they couldn't go back to Peshawar after Pakistan was formed, so for these childhood memories were even more stronger compared to a regular person who can go back to his/her home

Are you missing your unknown afghani father ancestral land in Afghanistan?

[Karachi]

our memories of places have nothing to do with the place it's self but who we were during the times we spent there and who we were surrounded by. i used to feel so nostalgic about kabul until i went back there in 2009 after 16 years. .when i was there, there were fields of green bushes and knocked down houses. i hate it now. the streets feel strange and the people are bewildered. the buildings are fancier now. they even have security cameras all over the streets with fancy street light stands and benches for people to sit on in the afternoons but it's not the same.. it makes you shudder.. i guess it's different when you live a large portion of your life in one place.

Interesting read about the Kapoor family:

The Kapoor food chain The first family of Bollywood share a passion for good food that matches their love for cinema MADHU JAIN



If, heaven forbid, one of the Kapoors was in a coma and somebody whispered yakhni pulao or junglee gosht into one ear, he or she would wake up, pronto, mouth wide open. The Kapoors have a thing about food, all the way down the line from the founding father of the Kapoor film dynasty, Prithviraj Kapoor, to his great grandson, current heartthrob Ranbir Kapoor.

Though to look at him or cousin Kareena (he with his lean, lanky body and she with her famed zero size and sunken cheeks) you wouldn’t think so. But make no mistake: they, too, lust for yakhni pulao, junglee gosht, payas (trotters), Goan fish curry and the myriad dishes that have tickled and teased the Kapoor palate for generations. Kareena may have turned vegetarian, but the aromas wafting from the kitchen of her grandparents Raj and Krishna Kapoor still linger in the air.

It’s in the blood. Memories of the North West Frontier play a pivotal role in this magnificent obsession. Prithviraj and Raj Kapoor are the only ones to have lived in Peshawar. However, the love for its cuisine never faded. In fact, it became part of the Kapoor DNA — integral to being a Pathan really.

Life without a tandoor wouldn’t be worth living for the Kapoors. Anything that moved found itself in it, the tandoor that is, on the streets of Peshawar. Vendors called naanbhais did brisk business selling tandoori food. The more adventurous ate fried bater (quail). Apparently, shops in Peshawar even sold sparrows fried in batter. Eating went on all day: tea came with different kinds of bread like Peshawari kulcha and rogni roti (with butter milk, ghee, eggs) — often helped down the gullet by gulabi or lal chai.

Peshawar is responsible for the gargantuan appetite of the Kapoors. It was a gourmand’s heaven-on-earth. In this land of plenty even the poor ate paranthas. Peshawaris get misty-eyed when they talk about the quality of the water of the city they left behind. Apparently, you could eat any amount, and were ready for a refill a few hours later. Like a boa constrictor, a Pathan could ingest anything. It was said that the water was so good that you could eat anything and digest it.

The clan’s intense love of food was called a Kapoor bimari (malady).The nature of the relationship, however, with food changes with each Kapoor.

For the patriarch-founder, Prithviraj, food had more to do with quantity — though he was particularly fond of red meat: burra kebabs (kid lamb) vanished as soon as they caught his eye. The late actress Nadira, who acted in a couple of films with him — Insaf ka Mandir and Ek Nanhi Munni Ladki Thi — puts it vividly: “Being a Peshawari, his idea of eating was wringing a neck, breaking a chicken. If he were on a diet, he would eat what the doctor ordered. Once he had gobbled it down, he would look around and say: “I have had the diet food, now let me eat some real food,” said Nadira in an interview with the author.

The patriarch loved visiting gurdwaras. And, it wasn’t just for feeding his soul: the prasad drew him like a magnet towards the gurdwaras. Prithviraj would quickly eat the heavenly sooji-ka-halwa and then grab some more and pocket it to satisfy subsequent cravings.

Raj Kapoor had a more complex relationship with food. Undoubtedly, Indian cinema’s original and quintessential showman was an epicure. But he was more interested in feeding others. Like Gatsby, he liked watching his guests enjoy themselves. Less was never more for this Kapoor for whom hospitality was a religion.

Tables at his legendary parties groaned with food: several kinds of chicken and mutton — and, of course, yakhni in all its avatars, in addition to European and Chinese cuisines. (Wonder if he pioneered the ubiquitous practice of multi-cuisine

banquets.) But the man himself ate quite selectively, and simply. Raj Kapoor could whip up a mean biryani and chicken curry. His comfort food, however, was pao and eggs — and a little dal.

The showman also loved idlis from Gita Bhavan in Chembur, moori (puffed rice) with peanuts and mustard oil, and small samosas, especially in his later years.

Shammi Kapoor’s genes ensured his love for all those yakhnis and payas. But this Kapoor also prides himself on his refined palate. More gourmet than gourmand, he relishes haute cuisine, particularly French. The ‘yahoo’ man was quite a shikari. And, in his time, he rustled up meals in a jungle with bare necessities: meat, red chillies and whisky or brandy.

Young brother Shashi Kapoor’s passion for good food is no less. The Kapoor table was rather eclectic, and this branch of the Kapoor family enjoyed experimenting with food. However, his late wife, Jennifer Kendal, kept the infamous Kapoorian appetite in check: out went excessive ghee and in came more tempered cuisines. Breakfast acquired significance in this household: Jennifer laid down the rule that the entire family had to assemble round the dining table for this meal, no matter how late they may have partied together. It was, as Shashi, explained, the only time that everybody would be at home.

Undoubtedly, these Kapoors and their three children (Kunal, Sanjana and Karan) didn’t need too much enticement: freshly baked rolls and heavenly brewed coffee must have done the trick.

The Kapoor foodie gene is invincible. It’s made its way down the generations, rarely missing a Kapoor enroute. Raj Kapoor’s three sons: Randhir, Rishi, Rajiv and his daughters Ritu and Rima (the latter is reputedly a great cook) are true blue Kapoors when it comes to food. Nor has this gene weakened its hold on GenNow.

Craving certain foods, analysts tell you, is not just about filling the belly. Caramel custard used to be made every day in Raj Kapoor’s home, even when he wasn’t there. When he was growing up in Peshawar — his parents led a modest life — he first ate caramel custard, served by impeccable butlers with white gloves, in the home of rich relatives. Ever since, he hankered for it.

Strangely enough, Ranbir Kapoor (named after his grandfather whose name was Ranbirraj) also loves it. Such is the power of the Kapoor gene.




The Kapoor food chain

[Karachi]

^ such an interesting family, I love passionate people like that, I wonder if Peshawar food scene is still the same as they remember?

[DaZahroJaam.]

you can be passionate about food without sending yourself to an early grave. the kapoors have always glorified their love for food. kareena's mother who is not related to the kapoors by blood was also a stick figure when she was kareena's age. look at her now..
while shammi was alive, i remember being astonished by the fact that he was still alive. he had developed obesity from a pretty young age.

[Karachi]

you can be passionate about food without sending yourself to an early grave. the kapoors have always glorified their love for food. kareena's mother who is not related to the kapoors by blood was also a stick figure when she was kareena's age. look at her now..
while shammi was alive, i remember being astonished by the fact that he was still alive. he had developed obesity from a pretty young age.

Thats, true, the thing is, there was no concept of exercise among them. I find that strange since the whole family was so popular among the public. Surely they could have exercised a bit. Shammi Kapoor became Obese in 1972, directly after he retired from playing a hero, he survived till 2011, till age 80

all of them once they reached their forties, became obese, lets see what happens with Ranbir Kapoor once he reaches that age

[Karachi]

How fit Rishi Kapoor use to be in 1976, today he is also obese, love this song: