The Beefsteak had Raw Blood Inside: Soumitra

RBN Web Desk: Vetaran actor Soumitra Chatterjee, speaking to the media recently on attending film events around the world, recalled that he was once served beefsteak at a German restaurant that had raw blood inside. He and his Charulata co-actor Shailen Mukherjee went to the restaurant for dinner, when they were served with the food, Soumitra said.

Soumitra and Shailen, along with Charulata director Satyajit Ray and his wife Bijoya Ray, had gone to Germany to attend the 15th Berlin International Film Festival in 1965.

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Reminiscing about his experience at the restaurant, Soumitra said, he and Shailen had decided to eat out that night. Ray and his wife were not very keen to join them. That aside, Soumitra always tasted local cuisine, wherever he went. They decided to have beefsteak at the restaurant. The waiter asked them, how would they like their steak, ‘well-done’ or ‘underdone?’ Soumitra said that he was aware that the underdone variant was in fact an undercooked version of the steak which often contained the half-baked blood of the animal. Shailen had no idea about the difference in the two preparations. Soumitra asked for a slightly underdone steak.

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When the food arrived on their table, an eager Shailen cut the steak and the blood inside spurted out, the thespian recalled. That was enough to put him off, and the actor decided never to have beefsteak again, the thespian said. On the flight back home they were offered well-done beefsteak which did not have the animal’s blood as an ingredient. But Shailen’s prior experience was so nauseating that he preferred to go hungry on the entire duration of the flight, Soumitra remembered, adding that not even Ray and his wife could convince him to eat anything.

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Charulata had Soumitra, Shailen, and Madhabi Mukherjee in lead roles. Ray won the prestigious Silver Bear for the best director at Berlin that year. Charulata, released in 1964, is widely acknowledged to be Ray’s finest film as a director.

Image: Great News Channel