LONDON: Tom Cruise dines at Asha Bhosle’s restaurant, orders chicken tikka masala with ‘extra spices’

LONDON: What could be a better example
to prove that world is really small than Hollywood superstar Tom Cruise on a
fine day visiting legendary Bollywood singer Asha Bhosle’s restaurant for a
plate, or two, of tikkas? Well, it happened and according to a report in Birmingham
Live, Cruise tried Indian cuisine, including chicken tikka masala.

As much as Tom Cruise was delighted with his meal, so was Asha Bhosle
with his visit to the restaurant, named Asha’s, in Birmingham, England. Tweeting
the news report, Asha Bhosle wrote, “I was very happy to hear that Mr. Tom
Cruise enjoyed his fine dining experience at Asha’s (Birmingham) and I look
forward to him visiting us again soon.” The report features a picture of Cruise
leaving the restaurant.

Cruise reportedly spent two hours at Asha’s as he took a break from the
shoot of his upcoming film, Mission: Impossible 7. Cruise and the rest of the
cast and crew began filming Mission Impossible 7 in February.

Asha’s general manager Nouman Farooqui is quoted as saying in the
report, “When Tom Cruise came, he said he didn’t want any fuss and just wanted
to be part of the atmosphere. He wanted a meal just like any other guest and
simply wanted to enjoy an authentic Indian meal. A few diners recognised him
but not all. Nobody made a fuss, though when he left people went a little bit
crazy. He agreed to have his picture taken outside in a socially-distanced way
and had his mask on for the first picture. He then took his mask off and said:
‘Take another one’.” The star ordered a chicken tikka masala, which led him to
ordering a second portion with ‘extra spices’.

In May, Tom Cruise had spoken to Empire magazine about shooting the film
amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“I’ve produced 30 to 40 movies. I am responsible for thousands, if not
tens of thousands, of jobs. All my friends in the industry, people that are in
distribution, and my crew were like, ‘What are we going to do? I could lose my house!’
So I told the studio and I told the industry, ‘We’re going back. We’re going to
get everyone back to work. We’re going to start shooting in the summer. And
we’re going to figure out how to do it safely.’”

“It was seven days a week, it was around the clock, just dealing with a
lot of high emotions with people, and helping them through it. There was social
distancing, there were masks, there were bubbles of crew members – one make-up
artist for every two actors, plus heads of departments staying in hotel rooms
on their own, driving to set, shooting the scene and then returning to the
hotel until needed – and pods of five people, ready to quarantine if anyone
within one contracted the virus,” Cruise said.

Mission Impossible 7, directed by Christopher McQuarrie, is scheduled to
be released on May 27, 2022.