Opinion Reality bites

These lines were further underlined with a soundtrack of a heart beating,as contestants waited for Kumar to taste the their dish. Time stopped. And you may be interested in knowing what the other two judges,qualified chefs who have worked for the Mariott and Leela Kempinski,had to say,but that didn’t matter,because Akshay Kumar would kiss the hands of a woman contestant,while she broke into tears of joy,or give a bear hug to a male ,and he too shed tears. Sometimes even in slow motion.

This is what the Indian version of the world famous Masterchef series– one the most successful series being Masterchef Australia,that attracted an average of 1.42 million viewers world wide in — is about. Though Masterchef India has been copied straight from this successful Masterchef Australia template,you can see the difference in their approach to the central theme.

In Masterchef Australia the focus of the show is always food. Each dish is broken down to its different textures and balance of spices. Molecular gastronomy lessons are a joy to watch,the contestants are eagerly trying hard to go beyond Asian,European and American cuisines alone,the menu is not restricted to any one country or continent.

The scoring depending on presentation,quality of food,the time taken etc. Everything is measured and taken seriously and there is no soft corner for a bad dish. The judges are critical,and tell you what is right and wrong with the food.

But with Masterchef India why bother with all this when you can just kiss someone’s hand and say it all in true blue Bollywood style,like Akshay Kumar showing off his balancing skills on a Segway as he zooms around the kitchen donning a shiny fedora!

Bollywood does seem to dumb down everything it touches,or rather engulfs. TV show formats picked from the international successful series like the ‘Who wants to be a millionaire’,’Are you smarter than a fifth grader?’ all got a big Bollywood star as host in the desi version. The result: We saw Amitabh Bachchan catering to his fan clubs during every episode of ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’,his son and daughter-in-law making appearances,every new film launched has to get its star cast on the show and play a “charity” game.

Even Shah Rukh Khan failed at making ‘Kya aap Panchvi Pass…’ a hit,and Salman Khan is trying every Dabangg move to rock ‘Bigg Boss’.

Getting back to Masterchef India,its host Akshay Kumar did work in a Bangkok restaurant decades ago,and still talks about his days as a “chef” but it is difficult to believe him when he cavorts around the set with Aishwarya Rai riding pillion on a vespa,both wearing costumes from the seventies,shamelessly plugging their film ‘Action Replayy’. How does one digest this? Real chefs may not have the pizzaz of Bollywood stars and may be shifty eyed in front of the camera or lack impressive “dialogue delivery” but Food has to be central to a good food show.

But this it seems is like asking for too much. Even as 38-year old Bhadouria who gave up her job as a teacher to be part of MasterChef India,in an earlier episode got to dance with film director Farah Khan and actress Katrina Kaif,who were on the show to promote their film ‘Tees Maar Khan’,which also incidentally stars Akshay Kumar.

After all this,do you still want to know what dishes Bhadouria cooked to win the challenge? Or can we just distract you with a bit of “Sheila ki Jawani” playing out loud? With Masterchef India,that has always been a close call.