Abu Dhabi-based woman wins ‘MasterChef India 4’
21-year-old Nikita Gandhi won Rs10m in the cooking competition on Sunday
On Sunday night, Abu Dhabi-based Nikita Gandhi took home the golden chef coat and Rs 10 million (Dh588,000) at the MasterChef India’s season 4 finale.
The 21-year-old, the youngest chef to win the Indian version of the reality cooking show, beat Mumbai’s Neha Shah and Hyderabad-based Bhakti Arora, who left the show with a prize purse of Rs1 million and Rs500,000 respectively.
“My MasterChef [India] journey started back in November and ever since I’ve learnt so much from this entire journey, everyday, every task has been very challenging,” Gandhi told tabloid! over the phone from Mumbai, Monday afternoon.
“How I grew through it all, I would say, we learnt so many new cooking techniques, things that one would only see in restaurants, but one wouldn’t do at home. I’d been following the first three seasons and always had a passion for cooking and MasterChef seemed to be the best platform for someone as me who had not attended culinary school,” Gandhi said.
Elated with her win, Gandhi found the news of her victory hard to assimilate on Sunday night.
“What stood out in Nikita was her sincerity towards food. Even though she’s 21, her experience shines through as she’s been cooking since she was eight”, said Chef Ranveer Brar, one of the three judges on the show.
“These four to five months here [in India], thanks to MasterChef, have made me realise that India is truly my home,” she had said, thanking channel Star Plus and the judges — Sanjeev Kapoor, Vikas Khanna and Brar — for giving her “a huge platform to portray my culinary talent”.
The trio of judges announced Gandhi as the winner at the finale, calling her a consistent performer throughout the season.
The grand finale featured performances by Gurmeet Chaudhary and Debina Bonnerjee, and MasterChef India 3 winner Ripudaman Handa and Shivang. Bollywood actors Kangana Ranaut and R. Madhavan also made an appearance to promote their upcoming film Tanu Weds Manu Returns. Other celebrities on stage were actress Preity Zinta and author Chetan Bhagat.
The three judges too provided a befitting farewell to the participants by singing a song written, composed and sung by them.
