Feel The Pride
Kunal Kapoor
Born into a Punjabi family in Delhi , Chef Kunal Kapoor started cooking at home as a young kid . He always had the passion for food and loved experimenting with his food . Kunal Kapoor joined the Institue of Hotel Management , Chandigarh to pursue his dreams while getting ready to be a banker . He began his career at Taj Group of Hotels . Thereafter he worked in many luxurious hotels across the country . Kunal Kapoor has been awarded for many of his endeavors and even set a record to his name . Some of his achievements include , ‘Gourmet Guru Award’ by Food and Nightlife magazine , Silver medal at ‘Aahar’ and a bronze medal in ‘HORECA’ , Kuwait . Kunal Kapoor was also awarded the prestigious , ‘Sir Edmund Hillary Fellowship’ in the field of Food & Beverage by the Government of New Zealand . He is one of the main chefs at restaurant , ‘Diya’ , Leela Kempinski. The restaurant has won the ‘Best Indian restaurant award’ three times in a row in Gurgaon for the years 2009-2012 by Times Food Guide . Kunal Kapoor also has a record in the famous Limca Book of Records to his name for creating India’s largest chocolate tower . As far as television appearances are concerned , Kunal Kapoor was invited as a guest judge on one of the episodes of season 2 of MasterChef USA . He was also a guest judge in one of the episodes of ‘Chef Pankaj ka Zayka’ on Star Plus Television . But Kunal Kapoor rose to fame and became a household name in India only when he hosted and judged , ‘MasterChef India’ Season 1 on Star Plus Television . He went on to be the host and judge in ‘MasterChef India’ for season 2 and 3 as well . Currently he is hosting ‘MasterChef Junior Swaad Ke Ustad’ alongside Chef Vikas Khanna and Chef Jolly and is the Executive Chef at the Leela Kempinski in Guraon . In an interview chef Kunal Kapoor says that the food industry in India is growing by leaps and bounds . There are new food channels coming up along with new food shows . Kids who were earlier engrossed with dancing and singing due to the television are now exposed to this art as well . Generally with the television exposure the new generation is much more exposed to the food industry . Food shows have become means of entertainment for many . He goes on saying that the food industry is growing by thousands of crores each year and contributes a good chunk of the economy . Kunal Kapoor says that this is partly due to the growing demands of people across the country . People now pay much more attention to their food and are much more conscious when making decisions regarding their food . They are no more satisfied with the simple food and want to explore more . When asked about his favorite type food , Kunal Kapoor says he generally loves all kinds of food but he still prefers his Desi food and loves to experiment with it . Apart from being engrossed with food , Kunal Kapoor is a big movie buff and loves watching Hindi and English movies every week .
Harpal Singh Sokhi
Famous for hosting the show , ‘Turban Tadka’ , Chef Harpal Singh Sokhi became a name to reckon with in the hotel industry due to his fusion of Indian food with International cuisines . Harpal Singh Sokhi is a music lover and can speak fluently in English , Punjabi , Hindi , Bengali , Oriya and Telugu . He grew up with two elder sisters and a brother and was inspired by his parents in terms of cooking . His mother was a house wife and his dad was an Indian Railways worker . Harpal Singh Sokhi’s dad used to travel a lot during work and was culturally aware . He wanted his kids to know about the different cultures and the different foods of each culture . Harpal Singh Sokhi’s interest in culinary arts grew and it was in 1987 that he went on to complete his Catering Diploma from the Institute of Hotel Management in Bhubaneswar . He set out to be a chef and follow his passion . Harpal Singh Sokhi grew as a chef when he worked with an old time Ustad , Ustad Habib Pasha in Hyderabad . He learnt the intricacies of Hyderabadi cuisine from him and also Begum Mumtaz Khan who was an authority figure in Hyderabadi cuisine . Harpal Singh Sokhi claims that his love for cookery and food is mainly because it tells you a lot about other cultures and educates you about different types of food . After working in Hyderabad he went on to work for several famous restaurants and hotels . Some of them include , Vintage (Hyderabadi speciality restaurant) , Centaur Hotel (Juhu Beach) , The Oberoi (Bhubaneswar) , Vidarbha (Mumbai) and The Regent (Mumbai) . At hotel ,The Regent in Mumbai Chef Harpal Singh Sokhi had the privilege to develop the concepts for the restaurant and showcase his skills with a bigger responsibility . Currently Harpal Singh Sokhi has collaborated with Khana Khazana fame Chef Sanjeev Kapoor and together they share the dream of making Indian cuisine the number one in the world . He is hosting the much popular cookery show ‘Turban Tadka’ on Sanjeev Kapoor’s ‘Food Food’ Channel . He is also hosting the show ‘Sirf Tees Minute’ . Harpal Singh Sokhi also participated in the world gourmet summit in Beijing . He is also currently active in developing reedy to eat gourmet chutneys and pickles for the ‘Khazana’ brand . Concurrently he is developing various book contents for Sanjeev Kapoor . Harpal Singh Sokhi’s partnership with Sanjeev Kapoor dates back all the way to the first ever episode of ‘Khana Khazana’ in 1993 which Sokhi hosted himself .
Apache Indian
A pioneer Indian reggae artist who mixed both world of the Jamaican rap and Punjabi Bhangra in his songs and presented it to the global audience is Steven Kapur also known as Apache Indian . Apache Indian was born on 11 may 1967 in Handsworth , Birmingham , UK . There have been many Bhangra artists and artists of Indian origin from Birmingham as there is a huge south Asian as well as black community there . But Apache Indian was one of the first artists to hit the top of UK charts and make a major impact on the trends with his hits in the 90′s . Early in the days Birmingham had the reputation of producing reggae artist and bands such as , ‘Steel Pulse’ . By the early 1980′s Apache Indian was working with local sound systems and rocking dreadlocks . In 1990 he went on to release his first single , ‘Movie Over India’ , which at first was a white label release but was later picked up by England reggae distributors , ‘Jet Star’ . The single consisted of him mixing elements from reggae and Bhangra . The track was appreciated by audiences of both genres . In the same year Apache Indian won the ‘Best Newcomer British Reggae Industry’ Award . Two years later ‘Fe Real’ went on to hit the 33rd spot on UK charts . Then in 1993 he released many singles out of which ‘Chok There’ , ‘Don Raja’ , ‘Arranged Marriage’ , ‘Boom Shack-a-Lack’ and ‘Nuff Vibes’ were cult hits and brought him to the attention of major labels . Also the same year he came up with his first album ‘No Reservations’ in collaboration with his cousins Simon&Diamond which was recorded in Jamaica . Apache continued his career with more single releases in 1994 . ‘Music Relief’ and ‘Wrecxx Shop’ went on to consolidate the 12th and 26th position on UK charts respectively . 1995 saw Apache Indian come up with two singles , ‘Make Way for the Indian’ in which he collaborated with Tim Dog and ‘Regamuffin Girl’ which featured Frankie Paul . In 1997 Apache Indian released another album under Island Records titled , ‘Real People / Wild East’ . The album was his most experimental album and had more Indian elements than the other albums . He went on to release many more singles over the years such as , ‘Om Numah Shivaya’ (2005) , ‘The Israelites’ (2005) , ‘Ruff n Ready’ (2008) and many more . Apache Indian usually sings in Jamaican patois, and is known for his sharp social criticism . In his career he has collaborated with many international artists such as , ‘Blackstreet’ , ‘Boyz II Men’ , ‘UB40′ , ‘Sean Paul’ , ‘General Levy’ , ‘Shaggy’ , ‘A. R. Rahman’ and many others . Reggae singer ‘Sean Paul’ , who has topped the Billboard charts with many of his singles , toured the U.S. with Apache Indian . Apache Indian’s single , ‘Boomshackalack’ was featured in five different Hollywood movies, including ‘Dumb and Dumber’ and also was the soundtrack for ‘Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed’ . In terms of awards , Apache Indian has won three UK Asian Music Awards . The first one for being the ‘Best International Success’ (2003) , followed by ‘Outstanding Achievement’ (2005) and the last being for a ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ (2011) . Apache Indian is not fluent but can speak a few words of Punjabi . Therefore he has collaborated with several Bhangra artists . Some of these collaborations were with artists such as Preet Harpal(2006,’Teriyan Adawaan’) , Aman Hayer(2007,’Ground Shaker2′) , Punjabi by Nature(2009,’Sohni Lagdi’) , Jazzy B(2005,’Romeo’) , Miss Pooja(2012,’Gabroo’) and Malkit Singh (2003,Midas Touch 2) .