Madhuri Dixit to be on a food show

Madhuri Dixit, who has taken up a food show with chef Sanjeev Kapoor, talks about cooking and how she minds her kitchen

The gorgeous Madhuri Dixit who has been consenting to be part of many events and shows these days has just agreed to join master chef Sanjeev Kapoor’s channel, Food Food as part of their new show, Mahachallenge. The show is essentially pegged as a male-female cooking battle, with Kapoor and Madhuri helming each of their respective teams.
Madhuri who was put up at Hotel Westin looked fresh and stunning in an orange-gold sari. Beaming with confidence and frequently flashing her million dollar smile, she spoke in chaste Marathi at the request of the local press. “When I was acting, I didn’t cook too much. Not that I didn’t know how to cook, I knew a few things... but it was only after I got married and had kids that I turned to cooking in a big way,” she says.
“I hate to admit it but my husband (Shreeram Nene) cooks better than me. He makes a salad with bell pepper which is awesome. I love Maharashtrian food, my favourites are kande pohe, zunka bhakri and modak,” she tells us.
The fact that she is a doting mother to two growing up sons makes her all the more conscious about healthy and tasty cooking.



“My elder son is very fussy, the younger one is easier. It’s tough to get kids to eat. It took some time for me to know that my son likes everything sweet - which may not be healthy all the time. So then, you have to find ways around it. You have to cheat a bit - keep the food interesting and yet make sure they are eating right. If they don’t like cucumber, I tend to cut it in different shapes and put tomatoes,” she says, speaking with passion about her kids.

Madhuri intends going back to the US now, and returning back again to shoot the show in a month’s time. “I’ve been here for four months now, and I have three big fans waiting for me in the US, and they are the ones who matter the most to me,” she says.Does that mean there isn’t any film on the horizon for the dhak dhak beauty? Madhuri is tentative, “Let some good script come along...”



She’s excited about the food show in question though. “It’s about culinary skills and lifestyle and every woman sees herself balancing these two things. I’m one of them too,” she says.
The show would have her supporting the women’s team and she sportingly indulged in a mock-verbal dual with Sanjeev Kapoor. The latter spoke about his recently launched channel once again, and said it was doing very well. “It was seven years ago that I dreamt of having a channel entirely dedicated to food. At that time, people said I was mad. Why would people be interested in a 24/7 food channel, they asked? But in the last 2-3 years, things have been changing and the project started seeming viable. Food Food is already doing very well, and in fact, it’s TRPs have gone ahead of many channels in the same genre,” he says.
On Madhuri, he tells us that he needed someone with credibility and a love for food. “We needed a big personality to be associated with the channel so as to take it to the next level. Normally, all the film people I meet are scared of food. They are overly health-conscious. Thankfully, Madhuri was not like that.”
“Oh I have no such problems,” says Madhuri. “I eat what I want to and say to myself, ‘I can run a bit more on the treadmill tomorrow’. In any case, the channel and this show in particular will be promoting the idea of healthy eating,” she adds.
Food shows - that are well executed - have an excellent chance of succeeding, but only recently we saw a major dud with Akshay Kumar’s Master Chef, that Star Plus had launched with great hype and hoopla. So has Sanjeev analysed what goes into a hit show?
“I know about food and I know this will work. Yes, if I was a doing a film, I wouldn’t be sure at all,” he smiles at his implied response.
The show looks all set to begin in a month or so, and given the charismatic players at the centre, there’s not much doubt that the channel will get its much-needed visibility.