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Chef Harpal Singh Sokhi, who operates a successful restaurant business in addition to being a television personality, opened up about his time as a chef at a popular Mumbai hotel, where he had brushes with Bollywood stars. In an interview, he recalled stories about Amitabh Bachchan and Madhuri Dixit, and said that he witnessed Amitabh scold his son, Abhishek Bachchan, for not finishing the food on his plate. He also said that Sridevi had a permanent room at the hotel for two years, but would have her meals brought in from a nearby Mangalorean restaurant.
Appearing on Siddharth Kannan’s YouTube channel, he said that he ‘saw it all’ during his stint at the Centaur Hotel in Juhu, and that he was fortunate to have gotten a job there after applying when he was still in college. He said, “Sabse bada (adda tha). We have seen Dharmendra’s son’s wedding, we have seen awards, we have seen Madhuri Dixit’s rise. She would come to the Chinese restaurant. We have seen all this. Full Bollywood used to be there.”
Asked to reveal some anecdotes, he said, “Let me tell you something nice. We had an Indian restaurant, and Amitabh Bachchan used to come there. He would come with Jaya Bachchan ji, Abhishek Bachchan, and his daughter, Shweta. I still remember, when Amitabh ji would eat, and if there was any food left on his son’s plate, he would scold him: ‘Abhishek! Finish what is there in your plate. The plate should be empty’. He would say, ‘No, I’m full’. His father would say, ‘Why did you take it?’ I remember this very clearly.”
Recalling a story about Sridevi, he said, “She would stay at the hotel for two years at a stretch. She had a fixed room. But she wouldn’t eat there. Her food was brought in specially from a place called Harish. They had great Mangalorean food. Her spot boy would bring her a special tiffin with fish curry and all, but she would only have daal and steamed rice from the hotel.”
While the chef didn’t specify when the Amitabh-Abhishek incident happened, Abhishek mostly studied abroad. He returned to India while he was still in college, because Amitabh’s business had tanked and he was in debt. A few years later, Abhishek debuted as an actor himself, with the film Refugee. His father continued to scold him even until much later. Abhishek recalled the first time that they shot a scene together, for the film Sarkar, and how his father reacted afterwards. “He’s just sitting there, and then, in 48 frames, he turned to me. ‘Isi liye maine itne saal mehnat karke tumhe padhaya likhaya? Dialogue bolna aata nahi hai tumhe (Is this why I worked so hard and spent so much on your education? You can’t even say a line properly).’ I felt like I had murdered someone, the way he looked at me,” Abhishek told The Hollywood Reporter India.
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