Radhika Bhirani (HINDUSTAN TIMES; May 14, 2020)

There was a time when actor Patralekhaa “hated” cooking, but the Coronavirus lockdown has changed that. As a pampered daughter and having grown up in a boarding school, she was used to getting food on the table. She had someone cook for her even when she moved to Mumbai from her native Shillong. “[In the early days of the lockdown] I was like, ‘What will happen?’ But, YouTube has been of great help. I’ve been cooking non-stop. I also find it therapeutic as I can get my mind off things. I’m enjoying it,” she says. However, the actor, 30, adds, “[But] I stopped posting food photos [on social media]. Initially, I did, but then I felt it’s not cool. When I read the news, it’s not great to see what’s happening around the world. So, I stopped posting pictures.”

While she’s not comfortable doing it, Patralekhaa believes “to each his own”. She says, “If someone’s cooking something amazing, and it makes their fans happier, why not?” Besides cooking, reading, watching OTT content, working out, and indulging in her latest “guilty pleasure” Ludo, there’s something new keeping her busy. “I’m doing a series which has not been announced yet, and my prep has started. So, there are readings with the director via video chats,” she reveals. Ask her about the haircut that her beau, actor Rajkummar Rao, gave her and she says she had been wanting a haircut before the lockdown. And she cut his hair, too! “It wasn’t bad at all,” she quips.