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    Vikas Khanna screens Shabana Azmi-starrer 'Imaginary Rain' teaser to his 1st NY employer for whom he cooked & cleaned 2 decades ago

    Synopsis

    Renowned chef and writer Vikas Khanna showed the first look of his film 'Imaginary Rain' to his former employer Pushpa Sabharwal in New York. Sabharwal was Khanna's first employer who employed him to cook and clean between 2001 and 2002.

    ​'Imaginary Rain' is based on Vikas Khanna's novel of the same name​Agencies
    'Imaginary Rain' is based on Vikas Khanna's novel of the same name.
    Renowned chef and writer Vikas Khanna showed the first look of his film 'Imaginary Rain' - based on his novel of the same name - to his first employer Pushpa Sabharwal in New York on Friday.

    Taking to social media, the 51-year-old said that he always shows it to Sabharwal when he creates something significant. He revealed that she was one of his first employers in New York for whom he cooked and cleaned between 2001 and 2002.

    "As my ritual for 23 years, whenever I create something significant, I always take it for the blessings of Pushpa Sabharwal. She was one of my first employers in NY. At that time I used to do private cooking and clean people’s apartments in NY and NJ. I feel blessed to show her the first look of 'Imaginary Rain'," he wrote alongside a sweet video with Sabharwal.

    'Imaginary Rain', which is a work of fiction, features Shabana Azmi and Prateik Babbar in key roles. It marks the first collaboration between the duo.

    Azmi plays the role of a MasterChef in Manhattan who returns to India to find her roots after a personal tragedy.

    Talking about a scene from the upcoming movie, Khanna said, "There is a dialogue of Shabana ji to Pratiek that 'See Gods have come to you'. She (Sabharwal) is like my Goddess ... Feeling blessed," he concluded his post.

    In June 2020, Khanna dedicated the #FeedIndia milestone of crossing 15 million meals (of cooked and dry ration) to Sabharwal.

    The chef-author said that Sabharwal was the only employer who was kind and generous people towards him. "I saved every dollar she gave me for summer school at New York University. She used to tell me that one day I’m going to be cooking for the Presidents of The United States and she will tell everyone that I used to cook in her kitchen. We both laughed. Who knew that Ma Saraswati was talking to me through her? Her voice has so many blessings," his 2020 post read.

    In January this year, Khanna said that he wrote 'Imaginary Rain' in honour of his Biji (grandmother in Punjabi).

    Released in January 2023 by Penguin India, 'Imaginary Rain' is MasterChef India-fame Khanna's 40th book. With this book, Khanna has turned to fiction bringing out the story of an immigrant named Prerna, who is in her fifties and on the brink of a mid-life crisis.

    "Prerna, a woman now in her fifties, has been running an Indian restaurant in downtown Manhattan for two decades. She is on the cusp of a midlife crisis, and her life indeed unravels when she suddenly loses her son, her lease, and with these, her passion for cooking as well. Caught in the grip of newly awakened emotions, Prerna finds herself confronted by many haunting questions from her past, which take her back to her motherland, India. And so begins an intensely personal struggle that will lead Prerna to forgive herself, escape her past and rediscover her true passion for cooking," the book's blurb read.

    This novel is a celebration of life as well as an immigrant’s story of survival, forgiveness and moving on.

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