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Chef Sanjeev Kapoor dominated Indian television in the 90s with his cookery show, Khana Khazana. Recently, he revealed that he was replaced by Akshay Kumar in the first season of MasterChef India, a cooking reality series based on MasterChef Australia.
Speaking to Siddharth Kannan, Sanjeev said that he was approached by MasterChef and as soon as he started speaking to the makers, he was informed that they had already signed another judge. Curious about who could be bigger than him at that time, he later discovered it was Akshay Kumar.
"They had signed Akshay Kumar, a dear friend, a brilliant guy and a great professional. They said that now that we have signed him (Kumar), we want you as well. I said, 'Very good; I am very happy'", he added.
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Sanjeev Kapoor revealed that he had only one condition for the makers: he would charge ₹1 more than whatever amount Akshay Kumar was being paid. He added, "They were shocked and were like, 'More than him?' I said, 'Yes, this is my field.' They were shocked and they did not, and I was okay.
However, later, the makers of MasterChef returned to him, as they had decided to replace Akshay. Despite this, Sanjeev maintained his original terms, though he acknowledged that the same condition couldn’t apply since Kumar was no longer part of the show.
"So I signed the show, and I did a few seasons but time to effort to return, that ratio did not match," concluded Kumar.
Sanjeev joined MasterChef in the second season and continued his run in the fourth season.
The current line-up of judges for the reality show consists of Vikas Khanna, Pooja Dhingra, and Ranveer Brar.
