Exclusive: The fabulous four of 'Four More Shots Please!' on their travel styles, how it makes them bond and more

Over two terrific seasons, the fantastic four of Sayani Gupta, Bani J, Kirti Kulhari, and Maanvi Gagroo, as Damini, Umang, Anjana and Sidhi respectively, have delighted one and all in Prime Video’s Four More Shots Please! While they’ve laughed, loved, and cried together, what’s made them a girl gang we absolutely love has been their travels. Ahead of the fourth season that comes out this October 21, Cosmpolitan India caught up with these lovely ladies to find out what their travelling preferences are and how it (travelling) has got them closer and made them a better person. 

Cosmo: What’s the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the word – Cosmopolitan India?

Kirti: Equality

Sayani: I think a lot of fun and lots of colour

Maanvi: I remember my teenage days because I used to read the magazine a lot

Bani J: Well, I’ve thought of two things. Firstly, I’ve just shot for Cosmo and I’m wondering when is it coming out. The second thing is an urban, cosmopolitan city that’s very modern. 

Cosmo: What are your travel styles and preferences?

Kirti: I do a lot of solo travel. I like spending time with myself. I recently did a bike trip to Ladakh, which was my very first bike trip. I’m a very non-touristy traveller, one who doesn’t like to plan too much. I decide on a place and take it as it comes.

Sayani: Very similar to what Kirti said. I mostly travel solo or I sometimes travel with my girlfriends, which is very different, but a lot of fun. I’ve done eight countries over the past six months – covering most of Europe. I came back from Greece and then went to Ladakh. I like to not plan and take in the place, interact with locals, and see how they live, and what they do. You get so much information in terms of food, what to see, and also explore. I love walking. You find a quaint church and so many unexpected places. It’s a very personal kind of thing. I had one of the most beautiful experiences while travelling last year in Egypt in this mosque where I ended up being all alone in there and they’d just finished their prayers. The energy in that place was absolutely unbelievable. It almost made me cry. 

Maanvi: I don’t like planning to the T, I don’t like people who plan. I don’t travel in big groups anyway because there’s always some kind of friction that ends up happening in terms of scheduling. That said, I always keep two to three days just for myself when I decide that I want to get lost. I always find my way back and that for me is a very liberating feeling. I agree that you need to walk to fully explore the place at its best. I’m always talking to people where they’re from, and love talking about the political situation and getting the actual pulse of its people. 

Bani J: I’ve been travelling solo since I got my passport when I was 19. I love to travel by myself the most. But I will take the opportunity every now and then and travel in a group and be cautiously optimistic. When you’re solo, you can do what you want and not have to listen to anyone else. I have a checklist with me. I will literally travel halfway across the world to workout at a particular gym because of the vibe or the bodybuilders who work out there. Because of their history, I’ve been to some of the most famous gyms around the world. I love going to touristy places because they’re called that for a reason. You want to see those places. I love renting cars when I’m out. Training on holiday is a must when I’m on vacation. 
 

Travelling empowers a person. What impact did travelling for work in such a fun group have on you in the past two seasons?

Sayani: That’s a very good question. Well done, Adit. 

Bani J: I have a great story about this. One of the most shocking things that I learnt about one of my co-stars took place when we were jamming in the back seat of a car, in Istanbul. It was Sayani, Kirti and myself and of course, I had my phone out because I love taking BTS shots of all these things. We were looking for Maanvi, who, like she just said, loves getting lost. We were up an extremely steep hill and had to drive all the way up and Kirti was absolutely petrified. 

Kirti: Guys, it was so steep. Come on!

Sayani: We had never seen Kirti like that. 

Kirti: I have this fear of a car going back on a slope. 

Bani J: This stoic demeanour was out of the window and I was shooting with the intention of letting people know that ‘OMG guys, look, she’s freaking out’. I’ll never forget that. 

4.    They say you don’t really know a person until you’ve travelled with them. What do you think?  

Kirti: That’s so true. Travelling is a short form of having lived with someone. If you want to choose a partner you must travel with them. 

Sayani: Do travel with your partner before you commit to a long-term relationship. It’s an absolute must.

Bani J: It’s like a crash course in what life will be with that person. 

5.    Every group has the organised one, the always late one, the one busy clicking pictures and the super enthusiastic one — who’s who in yours?

Maanvi: Bani is always taking pictures, and I’m super enthusiastic, while Sayani is super organized and Kirti does things at her own pace. 

6.    Which are the best moments from your travels together in which you really bonded or had a crazy good time?

Sayani: For me, Italy was the best outdoor ever. Also because we had a lot of people so we had a lot of breaks in the middle due to combination shoots. We had a lot of time to spend with one another. We had the time of our lives shooting at gorgeous locations. We were shooting inside a castle which was in the middle of an 80-acre forest. Maanvi and I went for a walk on the first day and we came across three deer. It was just stunning. We also shot at Lake Orta and it had its own quaint charm. You feel that you’re stuck in time and we were in that mode. 

Maanvi: When we had to travel from the castle to Lake Orta, I remember that the hotel at the latter was much smaller. So I remember being asked if we’d want to shift to a new hotel and then saying that I want to check out the view. And my mind was blown. I told the production person that don’t bother convincing the other three, just show them the view. 

Bani J: I remember making a reel from our balcony where our rooms would open into the lake and the mountain. 

 
If you could pick a destination for the next season to be shot at, which would it be?

Sayani: New York

Bani J: I think Manhattan, we should do a bachelorette in Barcelona. Greek would also be good. 

Maanvi: We should do a country in South America because I don’t think I’ll get to go there otherwise. 

Bani J: We’ll go to Machu Picchu (Peru)

The post-pandemic era has seen a steep rise in women travelling solo. Have you ever been on a solo trip? Which is your best memory? 

Kirti: Ladakh was one, I did Georgia and Serbia last year, and I’ll be going to the USA pretty soon. 

Sayani: Prague, Vienna, Greece, and even some of Italy. 

Maanvi: My most special solo trip was in fact my first – Pondicherry. The reason being is that I didn’t think I could do it. You always feel that you need to travel with someone. But I had a blast. 

Bani J: Oh dear, all of them are amazing. 

Which are your favourite foods from your hometowns or native places?

Sayani: Very good questions, Adit. 

Bani J: My favourite thing from my hometown (Chandigarh) was when my grandmother would make mutton biryani, paneer bhurji and Krishna Didi would make phulkas with ghee. And then, for dessert, she would make same ghee-roti and put jaggery in it and then make churi, which is where you smash it. I haven’t eaten that since I was like 9 or 10. 

Maanvi: I don’t whether to count Kashmir as my hometown or Delhi. Both places have kick-ass food. I think I miss the roadside food of Delhi, the golgappas, the momos, chole kulcha, kulfi and falooda. Coming to Kashmir, I absolutely love the non-vegetarian food there, but vegetarian food is very underrated. I like haak, dum aloo and nadir churma.

Sayani: I love everything. Just like Kashmiri food, there is a misconception that Bengali food is all about non-veg. We eat most kinds of vegetables. My favourites are kochu shak, which nobody would have heard of. It’s basically a weed that grows in the pond. My mom makes it with prawns. Also panch misali torkari (a simple spice mix of five spices: cumin seeds, nigella seeds, fennel seeds, black mustard seeds, and fenugreek seeds) and aloo poshto, simple parval aloo. 

Kirti: There’s something called choorma. I like that the most. There’s a vegetable called sangria, which is a desert tree. I love eating that.