Vikas Khanna and Ranveer Brar have joined forces once again to judge the eighth season of MasterChef India that streams on SonyLIV. t2 caught up with the celebrity chefs for a chat.
What is it about Masterchef India which makes you return to it season after season?
Vikas Khanna: The most important reason of me doing this show for the last 14 years is my mom. It’s her favourite show and during the show, she’s like the queen of Amritsar! Everybody comes to her house, there are parties arranged around watching the show, like a screening. For me, the biggest motivation is that she watches me and for her this is very important. And hence, the most important thing in my life too.
At the same time, this is an absolute revolution. We have been successful in creating food chains, in creating new visions of food, new ideas of food and new businesses have been established watching MasterChef India. And most importantly, this show helps the prestige of the word ‘chef’, which was quite unknown when we started doing this show. It relatively adds on to the dignity of chefs, which they truly deserve. And it also helps to change cycles and cooking colleges that more people apply to as a very relevant profession.
Ranveer Brar: I get a glimpse of the country and its connection with food at one go. MasterChef India is like a microcosm of India’s relationship to food. The other reason is my bond with Vikas (Khanna), with the show allowing us to spend time together.
Also, MasterChef India is one of the biggest messages and beacons of food media and I am happy and proud to be a part of it.
What is different this season?
Vikas: It’s the contestants who bring in new energy and it is very important for me that we continue to inspire, to support new home cooks. And also, they come from different regions of India, especially this time. You will see contestants from Palampur to Mangalore to Meghalaya to Rajasthan. As they come to the show, they bring their culture, rituals, their path of life, their journeys with us and their dreams. And I am proud to witness it year after year and support it in any way I can.
Ranveer: There are many things that make this season different. One is that our relationship with food has evolved. Season on season, our relationship with food changes and that’s what makes it different. Other than that, I would say that Pooja (Dhingra, pastry chef who has entered as a judge this season) being on the panel is different. And third, I think the home cooks and the fact that they come from really, really small towns and villages and truly represent the aspirational India that is exposed to the world through the Internet, that makes it different.
What is your favorite MasterChef India memory so far?
Vikas: My favorite memory has to be Shazli Khan. She was a contestant in Season 2 and she made a dish from Hyderabad called Ande Ka Halwa. And according to me, that was the best dish I have had in many, many years.
Ranveer: It would be my first time standing beside chef Sanjeev Kapoor and Vikas Khanna. It was one of those moments which you really want to soak in and cherish.
How have you seen the show grow and evolve?
Vikas: One thing that is really amazing is that during the pandemic, people became very internalised. People thought of their subcultures, where they come from, from the cities they belong to. So, everybody took comfort in their own culture and they became very proud. And suddenly, there were millions of recipes online where people were showcasing their pride of things which were comfort to them or a part of their memory. That has helped these home cooks who watch them to have an understanding of how one simple grain can be cooked in 200 ways in India.
We also have home cooks here who are running cloud kitchens. And for us, this is amazing. This gives them the platform, the visibility they need. This also gives them something very important as their identity and also certifies them as professionals. I feel they are a very important part of the cycle of Indian cuisine. Learning from them is the biggest curve for me. This has inspired me in my own new restaurant menus. This inspired me to write new books and to learn and to do more research.
Ranveer: The show has taken the message of Indian food to the world. It has metamorphosed into something that’s bigger than itself, that’s bigger than the idea of food and what it means to the country. We see that idea change every day and get bigger and bigger and that’s what makes us happy. And we can see that change in the contestants, in the quality of dishes that gets showcased, in the same challenges becoming easy over the years because the contestants are becoming sharper and more skilled and the audience being more aware and more learned.
There is the perception of food and then there is the commerce of food. In the commerce of food, there has been a huge spurt. MasterChef India started that spurt where everybody wanted to cook aspirational food and they wanted aspirational kitchens, aspirational equipment, aspirational appliances. The pandemic gave it a boost and now we are are in a country where kitchens have become central to any house planning and that is reflecting in the entire food commerce ecosystem, whether it is ingredients, equipment, appliances, or ancillary kitchen brands doing really well.
If you had to trade places and become a contestant on the show, what essential attributes do you think would place you at an advantage and what you need to work on?
Vikas: I will have to absolutely work on my learning graph. When you are 50-plus, sometimes your curiosity becomes less. I am still curious, but when I see these home cooks, their curiosity, how they are learning from each other... I think that I am going to work on all this. My strength will be my patience. My strength will be listening to the task and performing based on that.
At the same time, what will benefit me is that I started learning very early in life. So, maybe that speed of doing so much of catering throughout my life will help me with my speed.
Ranveer: The biggest attribute that I need to cultivate is temperament. A lot of the show is not just about cooking, it’s also about temperament, holding it together in moments of pressure, adapting, adjusting, having a Plan B and figuring out how to make the most of opportunities and curveballs that are thrown at you.