Cyrus Says

In this episode Cyrus Broacha sits down with chef, author, restaurateur, and all-round force of nature Romy Gill MBE for a conversation that jumps effortlessly from food to culture to absolute nonsense.

Romy talks about growing up in a steel-plant town in Bengal in a Punjabi family, navigating identity through food, and why she feels more Bengali than Punjabi. She opens up about opening her restaurant in the UK without investors, facing gender bias from banks, selling her jewelry to fund her dream, and how the BBC showed up just in time.

There’s deep food talk, Himalayan cuisine, Kashmiri saffron, game meat, papad politics, and why Indian customers want onions and chillies for free. Romy also breaks down what makes great hospitality, why staff should always come first, and how tips were shared across the entire team from chefs to kitchen porters.
Along the way, Cyrus does what he does best: derail the conversation with cricket, Bhojpuri and Bengali impressions, postmen food testing, alcohol debates, and questions no serious interview would ever ask.

Expect stories, laughs, strong opinions, and zero structure!

If you love food, culture, chaos, and conversations that go everywhere and nowhere at once this one’s for you.
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In this episode of Cyrus Says / Cock & Bull, Cyrus Broacha is joined by comedian and professional chaos-enjoyer Shamik Chakrabarti for a conversation that goes exactly nowhere and everywhere.
They talk about KRK firing guns (allegedly), Vande Bharat reels nobody asked for, cancel culture that cancels itself, internet outrage that lasts 48 hours, and why Indians secretly thrive on mess. There are bad opinions, worse jokes, and absolutely no attempt to be responsible.
If you’re looking for balance, nuance, or polite conversation this is not it.
If you enjoy chaos, questionable takes, and laughing at things you probably shouldn’t welcome home. And to our regular listeners, welcome back home!
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In this special episode of Cyrus Says, writer and editor Sharmishtha Mukherjee is joined by her father, Air Commodore (Retd.) Bonney Mukherjee, for a conversation that moves effortlessly between nostalgia, history, humour, and survival.
The episode begins with Sharmishtha’s book Pudding: The Memory Keepers of Bandra — a loving portrait of a neighbourhood, its people, streets, food, aunties, trees, clubs, churches, and disappearing culture. Together with Cyrus, she reflects on what it means to grow roots, belong to a place, and preserve everyday stories before they vanish.
In the second half, her father shares extraordinary first-hand accounts of life as an Indian Air Force fighter pilot, including being shot during the 1971 war, flying combat missions, surviving injuries, and the quiet resilience required to return home and carry on.
The conversation also touches on Sharmishtha’s experience as a cancer survivor, family strength, humour as a coping mechanism, and the strange, beautiful ways people endure.
Gentle, funny, emotional, and deeply Indian — this is an episode about memory, courage, and the lives behind history.
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Welcome to Cyrus Says!This conversation starts with a forgotten Indian entrepreneur who built three empires and ends with Cyrus touching elephant poop. We're not kidding.
Author Tejaswini Apte reveals the untold story of her great-grandfather Tatya Sahib, who went from a chawl in Girgaon to a sea-facing Peddar Road mansion by mastering textiles, producing 100+ silent films with Dadasaheb Phalke, and revolutionizing India's sugar industry.
Then she casually pulls out a children's book about animal feces with a bookmark made from actual elephant and rhino poop. Chaos ensues!
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Writer, actor, improv comedian Shantanu Anam Reddy joins Cyrus Broacha for a completely unhinged episode of Cock & Bull, where nothing stays on topic and everything somehow gets discussed.
From growing up Kashmiri-Andhra, studying acting in the US, film school snobbery, AIB days, sketch comedy, improv shows, and why none of it guarantees work — to Bollywood gossip, Kartik Aryan rumours, Dharma controversies, cricket rants, bad box office maths, pollution, badminton, IVF, teddy bears, and the mysterious phenomenon of BubuDudu.There are opinions.
There are allegations.
There are teddy bears.This episode has no structure, no conclusions, and no regrets — exactly how Cock & Bull should be.
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