Chai With Dilip Kumar Over Pune’s Shrewsbury Biscuits

Generally speaking, no trip to Pune is complete without visiting one of the city’s oldest and best-known bakeries — Kayani Bakery — to buy Shrewsbury biscuits for families and friends. Set up in 1955 by two brothers Hormuzdiar and Khodayar Irani, the bakery has tickled the palate of millions of people from all walks of life. Not many know that one of the early fans and patrons of these unmistakable cookies was the tragedy king of Hindi screen, Dilip Kumar. He relished Shrewsbury biscuits. It was around 1970; Dilip Kumar was doing a BR Chopra movie Dastaan. Those days it was not easy for those passing out of the Film & Television Institute Of India (then Poona Film Institute) to get work in mainstream cinema. But sound recordist BK Chaturvedi was lucky to be picked by BR Films and given the assignment of Dastaan. During the course of shooting, when Dilip Kumar came to know that Chaturvedi had passed out of the FTII, he told him whenever you go to Pune get me Shrewsbury biscuits from Kayani Bakery. It was an honour for Chaturvedi that the legendary Dilip saab was making such a request. Since that day till the shooting of Dastaan was complete, Chaturvedi would religiously go to Pune to get biscuits for Dilip Kumar. On his part, the thespian actor would offer him tea in his lavish, impeccable style at his Pali Hill bungalow. So it was chai, biscuits and filmy charcha.