Mumbai, April 24 (IANS) It was in 1993, when Sanjeev Kapoor’s first show “Khana Khazana” aired and made him a household name. The celebrity chef whipped up nostalgia as he revisited the making of the longest-running cooking show.

Sanjeev was a guest on Bharti Singh and Harssh Limbachiyaa’s podcast on Youtube, where he talked about the making of “Khana Khazana,” directed by Hansal Mehta, a show primarily based upon Indian cuisine.

“I could never memorize a script. I never read from one. On the day my show was set to start, they handed me a paper with an opening monologue. I still remember it. They also gave me an outfit that looked like a raincoat — I didn’t realize TV had such specific wardrobe requirements,” said Sanjeev.

He added: “We were shooting at Juhu Beach. It took me nearly a month to memorize that monologue. Back when we started doing TV, there wasn’t really ‘TV’ the way we know it now. After shooting, I said, “We’ve done it your way — now let me try it my way.”

“I had been speaking since childhood, thanks to debates and impromptu speaking challenges. I was a champion at talking about any word for a minute, so I knew how to speak. I didn’t write anything down — I just said whatever came to my mind. And from that day, I made an enemy for life: the show’s scriptwriter.”

In 2006, the 61-year-old star chef was seen in the reality show “Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa”, an Indian version of the British reality TV competition Strictly Come Dancing and is part of the Dancing with the Stars franchise.

He recalled being invited to join Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa as a non-dancer, only to later find himself competing against trained performers.

“During the first season of Jhalak, someone from the channel approached me. I told them I didn’t know how to dance. They replied, ‘That’s exactly what we’re looking for — people who can’t dance. You’ll be paired with a choreographer who will teach you and perform with you.’

“I asked who else was participating. They mentioned names like Kapil Dev, Hariharan, and some news anchors. I thought, ‘They’re just like me,’ and agreed to join.”

He said that before the show was announced, the contestants were invited to a party at the channel’s office.

“I looked around and realized no one else there was like me. I asked where the others were — the ones I was told about — and they said, ‘They didn’t say yes.’ Instead, I saw trained dancers like Mona Singh and Shweta Salve. I asked, ‘How are they not dancers?’ We had to rehearse for 7-8 hours a day.”

–IANS

dc/