Over a plate of Lucknowi nihari (slow cooked meat in a blend of spices), yakhni pulao and quiwami sewai for dessert, Rajveer, a dishy chef at a Goan restaurant, woos singer Manzu. As the aroma of the simmering meat fills the room, love blossoms between the two men, ultimately culminating in a happily-ever-after. The story of Rajveer and Manzu is one of the six episodes of Modern Love Mumbai (2022), directed by Hansal Mehta.
It is easy for Chef Ranveer Brar, who plays Rajveer, to nail the role; he has a lifetime of practice in using food as a medium to convey love, lust and longing. The kitchen, after all, is his home turf. This was Brar’s baptism into the world of acting, but in many ways it is difficult to tell where Brar the chef ends and Brar the actor begins, because in real life, too, Brar cooks as if he is in a rom-com.
When Brar is in his element whether it is as the judge of MasterChef India or as the host of his YouTube channel (which has over seven million subscribers)—he is at his most emotive. From smiles to smirks, sarcasm to satire, his expressions are on overdrive. When Mehta was asked why he chose Brar as his protagonist, the director said he could see an actor in him. He referred to the chef's YouTube series “where you can see there is a certain romance that is going on between him and his food”.
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