The Cooks Spoil the Show
A new series demonstrates why the kitchen is no place for Bollywood celebrities
Stars do eat but they can’t be bothered to cook. That’s the key learning you take away from Star vs Food, a discovery+ show. There is much boasting about the lack of culinary skills, at least by the celebrities featured in the first three episodes. Kareena Kapoor Khan says she is most happy to let her husband Saif Ali Khan don the chef’s hat; Karan Johar hadn’t chopped an onion in his life until the show; and Arjun Kapoor doesn’t enter the kitchen even to “make toast”. This ‘ignoranceis-bliss’ attitude is what the makers hope will translate to some fun in the kitchen. But, there’s hardly any. That is until Sanjay Kapoor enters as Arjun’s guest (episode 3) and gives a glimpse of what a Kapoor family dinner is like. It’s all snark and laughs.
For a cooking show, there is little cooking done by the stars. Kareena makes a pizza from scratch and has three friends over—they are fed other dishes before they finally sample the ‘Triple K’ pizza (stuffed burrata and pesto). Karan Johar makes sushi and katsu curry at Mizu, Bollywood’s current hotspot. He also tries hard to make conversation with his guests, actresses Saiyami Kher and Mrunal Thakur. Arjun makes chapli kebab and laal maas but come lunchtime, there’s a spread laid out because the Kapoors always want “more food than people on the table”. Chef Prateek Sadhu of Masque mans the electric stove, entrusting Malaika Arora with only chopping an onion, marinating the fish and announcing the ingredients that go into a Malabar fish curry. Most episodes end with a dull question and answer game which stands out for its forced laughs.
The trouble with a format like Star vs Food is that if the celebrities appear like they are trying too hard to be themselves and the food on display isn’t making you hungry (Masque being an exception), there’s little to binge on. The Indian viewer’s appetite for food shows is now more refined with shows like MasterChef Australia, The Great British Baking Show, The Chef Show, Chef ’s Table and others setting the bar. Star vs Food is as contrived as Hindi films. Neophytes enter the kitchen and all goes smoothly. Stars, however, do also fail. ■