As the third successful season of Laughter Chefs recently ended, celebrity chef Harpal Singh Sokhi called it a big milestone in his career. He was the judge and host of the culinary comedy show that had actors like Aly Goni, Tejasswai Prakash, Rahul Vaidya, and Krushna Abhishek, among others.
Talking about the show, he said, “Laughter Chef has enhanced my name and fame. I feel good about it. We’ve worked hard wherever we are, and it’s paying off. As I always mention, you keep working hard, and things will pay off eventually. I’ve always worked hard, sincerely focused on whatever I’m doing, and things have paid off, and I’m pleased about it.”
“Laughter Chef is a very large platform on Colors, and hence the reach is very big. You’re standing amongst a lot of stars, and hence the value proposition increases and improves,” he added.
He has always been a good-humored fellow and even cracked PJs as a kid. He said, “I was a jovial person. I would crack jokes with friends, and I would have those one-line PJs when I was with friends from childhood. And I think somewhere that evolved as I got this show.”
Even during his stint on Turban Tadka, a culinary show that he hosted, he would randomly crack one-line PJs while he shot and cooked. He said, “This is why Turban Tadka first gave me that love, where a man cooks and makes cooking so much fun. So that eventually evolved, and I polished it further in Laughter Chef.”
“Also, I think somewhere there are some traits in a person, and you achieve that and get polished further when you are amongst people who are masters in this art,” he added.
Chef Harpal has even acted alongside Riteish Deshmukh and Vivek Oberoi in the 2017 film Bank Chor. He said, “It was a satire comedy film, and it did very well since it was a small-budget movie. Within that budget, I think the ROI was very good. And I’m open to doing further films. If I get the opportunity, I would definitely do films that probably match my caliber.”
A dream role? “I wish I could do a film with maybe Shah Rukh Khan someday. Be part of something where he is there, which could be a kind of dream-come-true story for me. I like him. He’s come from a non-filmy background and yet become the Badshah of the industry, so I feel that being part of a film where he is there, I would love to do that,” he said.
And Chef Harpal has been a part of a few TV shows as well. He revealed that it taught him about character acting. He said, “When you’re doing cooking shows like the ones that I’ve done, you’re simply talking to the camera, and you’re being yourself. But when I did Channa Mereya, I learned, and I was taught how to be in the character that you’re playing. So I was playing the character of a dhaba owner and the father of the main female lead, who had hidden recipes in his diary. So sometimes it was an emotional relationship between the father and the daughter, but there were also some angry scenes, which I literally had to learn, and my co-star Shakti Anand, I think he kind of made me comfortable.”
“He said, ‘You act the way you are angry; when you’re angry, you act it that way.’ And that was a little difficult, but I learned a little bit of it. I think I’m open to doing comedy shows, I’m open to doing fiction shows, and I’m open to doing films,” Chef Harpal ended.