What is Doodh Soda? 'Dhurandhar' scenes bring back fame to peak summer drink

Food lovers would do anything and everything with a foodie lens, wouldn’t you agree? A casual walk through a shopping lane can quickly turn into a pit stop at a street-food stall, and even film scenes featuring food rarely go unnoticed. Something similar has played out with Dhurandhar. While its songs, dialogues and looks are already doing the rounds, viewers haven’t missed talking about one particular detail — Doodh Soda.

Those who’ve watched the recent release would recall the scenes set in a juice shop, where Hamza Ali Mazari, played by Ranveer Singh, works during his days in Pakistan.

The Doodh Soda sequence is believed to be a significant segment in the film. It features actor Gaurav Gera as Mohammad Aalam, who owns a juice shop in Karachi’s Lyari neighbourhood. Disguised as a vendor, Aalam — an Indian spy — instantly grabs attention with his quirky jingle for the drink: “Darling, darling, dil kyu toda. Peelo peelo, Aalam soda.”

While the scene has sparked chatter online since the film’s release, it also raises a curious question: what exactly is this drink? Doodh Soda is simply a mix of two beverages — milk and lemon-lime soda. It may sound like a bizarre combination, especially to first-timers, but the drink has long been a peak-summer recipe in Pakistan and even some parts of India —Punjab and Kolkata.

With Dhurandhar hitting the big screen, Kolkata's Dhaba having this refreshing drink in its menu has caught the internet's attention.

Reports suggest that at the city's Balwant Singh’s Dhaba, it’s been a midnight staple for decades together and enjoyed across age groups.

The drink is said to be drink dating much older than Indian Independence, where it was sealed and sold in undivided Punjab. The drink is also popular as 'Doodh Cola'. In a recent Instagram post, the Kolkata-based eatery, said, Dhurandhar might’ve made it go viral, but doodh soda had been a Kolkata favourite for decades. After Gaurav Gerav’s iconic “Darling Darling, Peelo Doodh Soda” line went viral, the drink found a whole new audience."

"My father told me that in summer, having this drink would help cool you down and quench your thirst. We initially used soda, but when Campa Cola entered the market, it became the soda of choice to mix with the milk," Balwant Singh Dhaba's Lakhvinder Singh earlier told MyKolkata.