2 weeks Ago
Pratibha Ranta recently experienced paradise on earth as she visited Poland last month and the actor is in awe of the place. “It’s quite cold here, but I think I love that as it felt like I've come back to my hometown,” says the actor, who grew up in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh. Pratibha Ranta went to Kraków and loved the food there.
“Then I went to Zakopane and it was so beautiful with the mountains all around. I went for a hike there and we walked for six hours up and then six hours down. It was quite challenging and I realized how important it is to be prepared on a trek because we did not even have water, and it felt like we were dying.
But when we reached our destination, it all felt worth it,” she recalls. Ask her if she find any similarities between India and Poland and she says, “They also have good family value system. I even made a nice friend there who told me about how close he is to his family and that felt so relatable.
” But what appealed to Pratibha the most was the safety in the country: “It is such a safe place to be at for me as a woman. I would roam outside at midnight without any concern.” Being a vegetarian, Pratibha had limited food options, but she experienced the versatility of a potato on her trip.
“They have different sort of potatoes, like smashed potatoes, baked potatoes, boiled potatoes and whatever you can think of. They make potatoes in so many delicious forms. And that reminded me of Shimla because growing up there, we would have lots of potatoes as a snack.
However, people here take potatoes very seriously and have a proper meal out of it. I got one recipe also from them in which they make potatoes in butter and milk. I'm going to try that,” she gushes.
Pratibha, whose film Laapataa Ladies became India's official entry to the Oscars 2025, also shares how popular the film has become in Poland. “I met quite a few Indians in Poland and I was so delighted to know when they told me that Laapataa Ladies was running in theaters there and they all enjoyed it. It's so beautiful to know the kind of love that film is getting from across the world,” she says.
The actor adds that she loved the local fashion too: “Their dressing and their culture is so vibrant. I saw some girls in Zakopane wearing very cute floral skirts and very nice shorts on top, and my local friend told me it is their traditional dress,” she shares, adding she bought something back from her grandfather. “I got my grandfather a Polish cap, because he loves to collect lots of caps.
It is handmade with Polish fur.” Pratibha is already raring to go back there. “I still have to discover more places,” she ends.
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