Exclusive: Michelin star chef Vikas Khanna floored by Nawazuddin Siddiqui's craft, says 'he can play me on-screen' in biopic

The world's one of the most celebrated chefs Vikas Khanna's life journey is seen as an inspiration by the youth of this nation. Delving deeper into his unmissable anecdotes from a simpleton life to an A-listed Michelin star chef - an Independence Day special movie titled Buried Seeds: A Chef's Journey: The Story of Vikas Khanna’ will be premiering on National Geographic India on August 15, 2021.

In an exclusive interaction with Zee News Digital, Vikas Khanna talked about Buried Seeds, his love for his mother and some interesting food favourites.

Here are the excerpts from the interview: 

Q. Tell us about Buried Seeds and why this title?

A. Andrei Severny, who made the movie came up with the title based inspired by the poem - 'They came to bury us, and forgot we were seeds' but this was also a small quote which I always used to keep in my office. Because you know we all feel, you know, at some time in our lives or many times in suppressed oppressed buried, burn and it is exactly the cycle of nature that the seed has to be buried before it blossoms into something new. The Reincarnation of the seed. 

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Q. Your journey is inspirational for many, did you ever once thought one day you will reach the stars.

A.  Abhi Bhi Mujhe Nahi Lagta. You know, I'm not a very confident person. So always feel that the universe is playing the role in this, and not just managing the universe, it is the other way. And I always believe in that, and I am religious in a different way and, you know, sometimes religion teaches you to submit, I do that. I feel that before, even any projects and people think I'm superstitious but I'm not superstitious, I am ritualistic. 

Okay, I don't know if you know the difference between those two. I'm a ritualistic person and if I do something, I will always continue to do that and you can see that on shows and I do things very consistently, which gives me little grounding. 

Even if I'm opening a restaurant that I will not turn on the light till my mom visits me. Okay, you know, I know this is annoying for my mother because she doesn't care about these things. But for her, to be present, every time we turn on the fire, it's more important to me. So, I feel throughout the journey. I've always focused very much on rituals - they are important for me. 

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Q. Any specific ritual you follow?

A. Yeah, I don't check my messages in the morning. I don't check my emails. I don't check all that. First had called my mom first. I called my mom because, you know, sometimes a message is amazing and everything is great. And the other days, the messages are totally like burn you down. Yeah, and so it's good that you know, I keep that away and speak to her. And if she doesn't pick up the phone, she's a very busy woman in Amritsar, and most of us know, she's so social and I will wait, I will not do anything with the phone until I speak to her and this has been a ritual for me for almost 21 years, even when the cell phones calling was very expensive to India, even then. I used to follow, not the similar, but I still follow a lot. That's amazing. It gives me gravity. 

Q. Any special reason to choose Independence Day for Buried Seeds to premiere on the National Geographic channel?

A. It's a National Geographic decision. Yeah. I think it's great that post-pandemic post Olympics, we are talking about something, which is another form of a competition, another form of Freedom, another form of going to a foreign land and putting your flag there. Literally, you know, of course, for us it's food, but I thought it is absolutely appropriate day. I did not know about it Andrei told me later and I was very excited. This is amazing because for kids to watch there are so many different forms, art forms in which they can be, they can be using the talents that drive their skill and cooking becomes one of them, right? 

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Q. So, if a biopic is ever made on you - who would you want to play the lead role?

A. I am a huge fan of Nawazuddin Siddiqui. I mean I love the Gen-X guys, but Nawaz brings a different level of craft and creativity. Somehow I can relate to him a lot because, you know, I see where he comes from, I connect with him. Something every amazing and sacred about the way he approaches his art. He's very rooted in acting. Everybody can do, you know that's like cooking, everybody can. It's who can actually connect, so many people together by the food. 

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Q. Quick reactions:

Fav food: Basic Khichdi

Most exotic dish you have made: Oh, you know, we were doing this Gala for the Tibet House with Chef Eric Riper, who is like a three Michelin star chef at Le Bernardin and I had to come up with the absolutely creative unique dish. So we did the scallops three-way, which was actually so difficult to time it. But that was one of the biggest challenges.

Sugar or Salt: Salt

Tea or Coffee: Coffee, because it's easier. Mere matlab ki chai nahi milti, khud he banani padti hai, Coffee to kahi b mil jati hai.

Homeland or Work land: Both, this is being a very important question. Both, don't exist without each other. Homeland still exists, but Work Land won't exist without my homeland. 

Q. Any regrets so far?

A. Yeah, some days. You wonder, why did you leave home? Some days, you wonder like every human being who lives in a different country, migrate somewhere else. There's always a thought that why did I leave, you know, I could have fought there and I could have stayed there. I could have done but you can't change the past. So I have some days. I feel that I have not been a good son. And I do feel that and I talk about it openly and I keep telling people who are with their fathers, please stick with them - it's the only thing which is really like don't be like me.

Q. What special message do you have for young aspiring chefs in India?

A. You know, I just tell you one thing that success can be very blinding. Success attracts very different kinds of predators, but having a combination of success and failure is very important. So don't be scared of failure because failure is going to teach you more facts and figures and honesty and more. 

Teach you more about yourself, your family, your friends, success can be very dark and it attracts different kinds of demons. 

So we sometimes get scared of failure while failure is the truth and failure teaches us much more. So don't be scared of failure. If you embrace failure in a way that failure also filters out lot of shit from your life when you fail, many people just disappear. 

So I've always felt this is good in a way that people disappear, but success - we all want to reach, right. We all want to be a success, but success should be in combination with happiness, success alone by itself can be very lonely and isolating and damaging. 

'Buried Seeds: A Chef's Journey: The Story of Vikas Khanna’ by Russian filmmaker Andrei Severny thrives on the fact that it takes an entire country to get a Michelin star, it can't be just one person. The film will be premiered at 9 PM on National Geographic, August 15, 2021.