Bengali obsession with sweet, from films to books

KOLKATA: Bengal’s love for the rasogolla is not restricted to just feasting on it, but extends to films and literature. Over the decades, the sweet has been celebrated on screen and in stories, stoking the Bengali’s fondness for the sweet.

None perhaps is more memorable than the immortal scene from Satyajit Ray’s classic ‘Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne’ where the delicacy is dropping from the skies in earthen pots, making hungry soldiers make a rush for it. According to film scholar Sanjay Mukhopadhyay, “In ‘Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne’, Ray celebrated the rasogolla as an object of desire beyond rituals of marriage. In ‘Teen

Kanya

’, there is a scene where Soumitra Chatterjee comes for a visit to have a look at his prospective bride. He was offered a plateful of rasogolla when suddenly Aparna Sen naughtily set a squirrel which created havoc.”

Or, the repeated reference to the sweet in Tenida’s adventures. Along with his gang of three friends,

Tenida

would go to any length to lay his hands on rasogollas. Another eminent literary character — Ghanada — too swore by the rasogolla.

Syed Mujtaba Ali

’s famous story ‘Rasogolla’ revolves around the sweet dish. The protagonist Jhandu lands in Venice with a box of rasogollas.

Bengali films, too, have had a liberal dose of scenes which portrayed characters devouring the succulent rasogolla. The early Seventies’ romantic comedy ‘Dhanyi Meye’ starring Uttam Kumar is one among many. In terms of music, the Kavita Krishnamurthy number —‘

Ami Kolkatar Rasogolla

’ — has enjoyed immense popularity among listeners. The lyrics were penned by Pulak Bandopadhyay and the tune was composed by Bappi Lahiri for the 1992 film titled ‘Rakte Lekha’ starring

Debosree Roy

and Prosenjit Chatterjee. The song became so popular that even recently Dev-Rukmini-starrer ‘Cockpit’ used a reprised version of this song.

Director Pavel’s next film is titled ‘Rasogolla’. Produced by Nandita Ray, Shiboprosad Mukherjee and Atanu Raychaudhuri, the film will be shot from January next year. “Though rasogolla is famous across India, I feel Bengali cinema truly didn’t celebrate it that much. That’s why I decided to make a period film on the origin of rasogolla. Ujaan Mukherjee will be playing

Nabin Chandra Das

who invented rasogolla at the age of 23. We are treating this as a period film and Nitish Roy will be putting up a huge outdoor set in Bagbazar for this.”

Author Shirshendu Muhopadhyay said: “Even though it is true that it has been a part of the Bengali cultural fabric, it will be sad if Bengalis are identified with rasogolla. There are a lot more to us than rasogolla. In any case, it is no longer as popular or widely consumed as it once used to be. It is not a healthy food and many have shunned it, including myself,” said the author.

Painter

Lalu Prasad Shaw

doesn’t agree, though. Bengalis are still identified with the sweetmeat and there’s nothing wrong with that, he believes.