MUMBAI: Actor-turned-chef Kapil Verma, who is currently seen in Instant Grub on Zee Zest and has worked on shows like Sanjeev Kapoor Khazana, Saanjha Chulha, Food Food, and Swad Anusar, grew up with two brothers and was a helping hand to his mother in the kitchen. That’s when the fire of cooking ignited within him, and though he started his career as an actor, it was some time later that he realized his passion for cooking.
Talking about his journey from an actor to a chef, he said, “One thing I struggled with was the long waiting periods between projects. I’m a very active person and wanted to keep myself engaged. So I started giving fewer auditions, as I couldn’t handle the waiting. I wanted something where I could stay active and not rely on waiting around for opportunities. Cooking, which had always been a big part of my life, became my outlet. Growing up with two brothers and no sister, I often helped my mother in the kitchen. I started by making chapatis, and over time, I mastered it. Since then, cooking has always been something I enjoyed, and I realized I could make recipe videos as well.”
“I started with a few trial videos, but I wasn’t satisfied with them. After a few months, I gave it another shot and began uploading videos to my channel. Eventually, the right people in the food industry noticed it, and I got a call from Sanjeev Kapoor Khazana. They asked me to audition at their studio and cook a recipe in Hindi. I went, did the audition, and they responded positively,” he added. However, things did not go as planned, and it was a few months later that he received a call from them about a Punjabi show they were doing, called Saanjha Chulha, which focused on regional recipes. He was asked to audition in Punjabi, and he made dal makhani, which was loved by them.
He added, “When the show went live, initially, we tested with limited recipes to see how the audience was responding. If the audience liked it, they’d give me more work; otherwise, they’d stop. That’s how it all began.”
As Saanjha Chulha continued, he also started getting brand collaborations. He did around 50 to 100 recipes for Tata Sampann, and most of those recipes worked very well on the channel. “In fact, one of the recipes, called Protein Salad, became so popular that, even now, if you go to Sanjeev Kapoor Khazana, it’s one of the most-viewed recipes on their channel, with over 37 or 38 million views,” he said. “Then, I got an exclusive contract with Milky Mist, a big South Indian brand, where I shot 50 recipes in English for their products on Sanjeev Kapoor’s channel. Meanwhile, I was also doing another vlog show for Food Food called Khaata Rahe Mera Dil. It was a great experience. They did one season with me, and a few of the videos are available on Facebook and YouTube as well,” he added.
Kapil then received a message on Instagram from Rajshri Entertainment where he was offered to run their entire Swad Anusar channel, which has over one million subscribers. “They said I would be the only chef on that channel. But they asked for an exclusive contract, and I declined because of my commitments to Sanjeev Kapoor Khazana, where I had made a name for myself. So, we left it, with the understanding that if an opportunity came up in the future, I could reach out,” he said.
“After about three or four months, they called me again, willing to move forward without an exclusive contract, as long as I agreed not to create the same recipes for other channels. I was okay with that, and that’s how I started working with them. We did a new show called Dil Se Desi, which ran for almost two years on the Swad Anusar channel,” he added. He has also worked on a subscription-based national channel called QTV, where he did another show, Shuddh Desi Tadka, which has been running for more than a year. While talking about his journey, Kapil also mentioned that once Chef Vikas Khanna shared one of his recipes on Twitter, he instantly remembered him when he went to meet a friend on the sets of Master Chef India.
“Chef Vikas Khanna was cooking something on camera. He noticed me from the corner of his eye, and when the take was done, he started walking towards me. He kept looking at me as if he recognized me, and I said, ‘You shared one of my recipes on Twitter.' He remembered immediately and said, ‘Yes, you made Amritsari Chhole, right?’ I asked how he remembered, and he replied, ‘I don’t forget faces, especially if the recipe was good.’ It felt incredible because it was a huge validation for me as someone just starting out in the industry,” he said.
“I thanked him and told him how much it meant to me to get validation from someone at the top of the food industry. He insisted I stay, saying, ‘I’m cooking something—watch what I’m making and taste.’ After the shoot wrapped up, he came over to me with a bowl of Dahi Kabab, as they were giving tribute to Sanjeev Kapoor, and he asked me to taste it; of course it was good. We had a good chat, and we exchanged numbers and connected on WhatsApp. I finally said, ‘Alright, I’ve met you; now I’ll head out,’ but then we ended up spending the entire day on set together. It was like a small camaraderie had formed, and I thoroughly enjoyed the day. Seeing his humility and talent was incredible. This one incident was so important for me, especially because he shared my recipe on Twitter when I was nobody and didn’t know him at all,” he ended.
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