Chef Sanjeev Kapoor is the face of Indian cooking. The Padma Shri winner brought restaurant-style cooking into Indian living rooms through his immensely popular TV show Khana Khazana, and he still remains relevant to this day. On June 22, talking about his journey and a career spanning decades, the chef appeared on journalist and author Vir Sanghvi’s podcast, Culinary Culture.
During the conversation, he discussed several defining moments that shaped his journey as a chef, including the untold stories behind Khana Khazana and the corporate politics that led him to quit his job as an executive chef. Among the many things discussed, he also talked about why he initially rejected MasterChef and demanded to be paid more than Akshay Kumar.
‘I wanted to be paid ₹1 more than Akshay Kumar’
During the interaction, Vir Sanghvi asked Sanjeev Kapoor why he had appeared on the reality TV cooking show MasterChef. For the uninitiated, the chef appeared on the third season of the show. According to him, when the makers of MasterChef India first approached him, they did not meet his conditions.
When asked what they were, Chef Sanjeev revealed that he had demanded to be paid more than Akshay Kumar. His condition was simple: One rupee more than the actor.
“This was like an ego thing, no? What is the value of one rupee?” when Vir Sanghvi questioned the chef, he answered that the makers had first approached him for the first season of the show. And he knew that there was nobody else who could do it but him. It was quite obvious to him, but the makers still insisted he did the show with the agreed amount. When they refused his conditions, the chef did not sign the show. “I am not coming. I will not do it,” he told them.
“So, third season, they actually said, ‘It’s not working. We need you.’ If MasterChef fails in this country, we are doomed,” chef Sanjeev shared, revealing that he joined the show for the third season, and that the makers did pay him more.
Did they pay him one rupee more than everybody else? Chef Sanjeev confessed that they obviously did, as that was non-negotiable for him.
How did the internet react?
The internet agreed with the chef and praised him for demanding what he is worth. One Instagram user wrote, “You can’t agree more, an actor getting more than a chef in a cooking show is not a good sign.” Someone else wrote, “His point is 100 percent valid.” Another commented, “Not ego, this is pure value. It was the principle of the thing. He deserves to be paid more than any other chef out there in India, including Vikas Khanna, I would say. He is synonymous with Indian cooking.”
About chef Sanjeev Kapoor
Sanjeev Kapoor is a celebrity chef, television presenter, cookbook author and entrepreneur. Born in 1964, he became a household name with the cooking show Khana Khazana that debuted in the 1990s. He has since earned numerous laurels and opened restaurants across the globe. In 2017, he was awarded the Padma Shri by the President of India.
