After playing an architect who turns chef in the 2005 film, Salaam Namaste — actor Saif Ali Khan turns to literally sharpening his knife skills with the titular role in Chef . Chef , an Indian adaptation of the 2014 comedy-drama film written, co-produced, and directed by Jon Favreau is all set to hit Indian screens today.
Chef ’s director Raja Menon, who was keen that his lead actor acquire some culinary skills, not just don the white uniform sent off Khan to chef Himanshu Taneja at JW Marriott Mumbai, Juhu for essential training. Taneja, the former executive chef at Marriott, (he’s currently culinary director, St Regis, Mumbai), says, “Our assignment was to teach [Saif] the A-Z of cooking, to ensure that he convinces the audience onscreen of his act as a chef,” says Taneja.
Over a period of two months, and a daily grill (pun intended) of four hours, Saif was tutored by Taneja and executive sous chef Ranjit Thomas on kitchen nuances. That is, how to pass tongs, sort a chef’s coat, sear fish, place orders, address chefs during a busy day in the kitchen, pick up kitchen lingo, feel the temperature of a vessel without touching it. “He told us that Saif loves cooking but he doesn’t know anything about the kitchen, so you may have to start from the basic things liking the peeling of onion, how to hold the pan,” says Taneja of his initial brief from Menon.
Accordingly, Taneja and Thomas set about grooming Saif’s body language and guiding him on how to play with kitchen tools. Saif would call the two chefs his guru, and follow instructions to the tee. The first three weeks were spent teaching him peeling and chopping vegetables to washing utensils.
“I taught him how to make pasta,” says Thomas. So, look out when you spot the actor use the wok and toss pasta in the movie. “We trained him from scratch — teaching him how to make the fresh pasta dough, how to cut it, roll it and then mix it in sauce and how to twirl it, the whole process of pasta making was taught,” shares Thomas.
Taneja recalls an anecdote: “The first dish Saif wanted to prepare was anda burji , to impress Kareena. After spending one week teaching him how to make anda burji , one day after sautéing onions, he asked me, ‘Chef what is the recipe?’ We couldn’t help but laugh and ask him to mix everything up,” laughs Taneja. Thomas though is quick to add, “But he was indeed a quick learner. He mastered many of the chores quicker than [we] did when [on] entering the kitchen.”
