Another day and yet another celebrity show on Indian television. Masterchef India does however hold one big advantage. A competitive cooking show has never been seen before and would offer up something new compared to the done to death dance and singing shows, Bigg Boss in it's 4th season, and KBC in what feels like it's 32507835th season. Akshay Kumar is also not a bad choice to lead such a show considering he does have some connection with cooking, tenuous as it may be. (He cooked in a stall in Bangkok in his pre-fame days.) It still makes him a fitter choice than just about any other Bollywood star.
The show begins with Akshay in superstar mode, booming voice, sunglasses, and a dapper suit talking about "khwabs" and "inquilabs." A wee bit much when you're going to be witnessing herb sprinkling, spinach tossing, and dainty tastings of culinary dishes but it's par for the course when even TV journalists are loudly shouting and screaming news headlines to offer the masala the audience presumably demands. Akshay surprises by finishing up his opening speech zippy fast and letting the Narrator Voice of the show explain the nitty-gritty of Masterchef. Auditions are done in six cities and the visuals are remarkably close to what you would see on Indian Idol; thousands and thousands of people running like a herd of cattle as the doors open.
For a show that's called Masterchef India, all of South India and Eastern India are neglected with the only cities (and obviously with it, their cultures and cuisines) included being Delhi, Lucknow, Mumbai, Indore, Jaipur, and Ahmedabad. If I don't see mile long dosas being made on this show, I'm going to be extremely upset!
