# MasterChef India – Hindi

MasterChef India – Hindi (or colloquially MasterChef Hindi; formerly MasterChef India) is an Indian Hindi-language competitive cooking reality television series based on MasterChef Australia and is part of MasterChef India. The series features amateur and home chefs competing to win the title of 'MasterChef'. The current line-up of judges consists of Vikas Khanna, Pooja Dhingra, and Ranveer Brar.

## Format

MasterChef is based on the Australian series MasterChef. The competition takes place in the MasterChef soundstage located in Mumbai, India which includes a large kitchen area with several cooking stations which is overlooked by a balcony, a well-stocked pantry, a freezer/fridge area and a fine-dining restaurant/seating dining area room used for certain challenges.
While the particular format of the season has slightly varied over the years, the following challenges have all been regularly featured:
* Skills Test: Cooks are challenged to perform a list of common cooking techniques or styles, or to replicate a particular cooking method of a dish (i.e. steaks done to an exact wellness). This type of test is also sometimes used as an Elimination Test.
* Mystery Box: Cooks are given a box with the same ingredients and they must use only those ingredients to create a dish within a fixed amount of time. The judges will select three dishes based on visual appearance, its taste and how well the contestants have used the given ingredient. The person who fulfils these three criteria will gain an advantage.
* Elimination Test: After the challenge is explained, judges evaluate all dishes based on taste and visual appeal. The judges give feedback of every dish and nominate the least pleasant dish for elimination.
* Team Challenge: The cooks are split into teams by either team captains or the judges. These challenges take place in a restaurant or pop-up restaurant taking the place of the staff of a particular restaurant. Guests taste both meals and vote for their favorite. The winning team advances, while the losing team will participate in the Pressure Test or face elimination based on the teams' performance.
* Pressure Test: Another form of the Elimination Test, in which losing team members compete against each other to make a standard dish within a very limited amount of time that requires a great degree of cooking finesse. Each dish is judged on taste, visual appeal and technique, and the losing chef is eliminated.
Once the competition is reduced the finalists will compete against each other in a three-course cook-off. All courses of the meal are judged and an overall winner is crowned. The winner of seventh season won ₹ 25,00,000, a MasterChef trophy, and the title of MasterChef. Some seasons have also added other prizes such as a cookbook deal.

## Judges and host

| Judges | Season 1 | Season 2 | Season 3 | Juniors MasterChef | Season 4 | Season 5 | Season 6 | Season 7 | Season 8 | Celebrity MasterChef |
| Ajay Chopra | Judge | Judge | | | | | | | | |
| Akshay Kumar | Judge | | | | | | | | | |
| Farah Khan | | | | | | | | | | Host |
| Farah Khan | | | | | | | | | | Judge |
| Garima Arora | | | | | | | | Judge | | |
| Kunal Kapur | Judge | Judge | Judge | Judge | | Judge | | | | |
| Pooja Dhingra | | | | | | | | | Judge | |
| Ranveer Brar | | | | | Judge | | Judge | Judge | Judge | Judge |
| Sanjeev Kapoor | | | Judge | | Judge | | | | | |
| Surjan Singh Jolly | | | | Judge | | | | | | |
| Vikas Khanna | | Judge | Judge | Judge | Judge | Judge | Judge | Judge | Judge | Judge |
| Vineet Bhatia | | | | | | | Judge | | | |
| Zorawar Kalra | | | | | | Judge | | | | |

## Series overview

MasterChef
| Season | Primary Network | Online VOD | No. of Episodes | First Aired | Last Aired | Prize Money | Winner | Runner-up |
| 1 | StarPlus | | 21 | 16 October 2010 | 25 December 2010 | ₹1 crore | Pankaj Bhadouria | Jayanandan Bhaskar |
| 2 | StarPlus | | 22 | 22 October 2011 | 1 January 2012 | ₹1 crore | Shipra Khanna | Salma Shazia Fathima |
| 3 | StarPlus | | 70 | 11 March 2013 | 9 June 2013 | ₹1 crore | Ripudaman Handa | Navneet Rastogi |
| 4 | StarPlus | | 67 | 26 January 2015 | 12 April 2015 | ₹1 crore | Nikita Gandhi | Neha Deepak Shah |
| 5 | StarPlus | | 26 | 1 October 2016 | 25 December 2016 | ₹50 lakh | Kirti Bhoutika | Ashima Arora |
| 6 | StarPlus | Disney+ Hotstar | 25 | 7 December 2019 | 1 March 2020 | ₹25 lakh | Abinas Nayak | Oindrila Bala |
| 7 | Sony Entertainment Television | SonyLIV | 65 | 2 January 2023 | 31 March 2023 | ₹25 lakh | Nayanjyoti Saikia | Shanta Sarmah |
| 8 | — | SonyLIV | 40 | 16 October 2023 | 8 December 2023 | ₹25 lakh | Mohammad Ashiq | Nambie Marak |
Junior MasterChef
| Season | Primary Network | Online VOD | No. of episodes | First Aired | Last Aired | Prize Money | Winner | Runner-up |
| 1 | StarPlus | — | 22 | 17 August 2013 | 2 November 2013 | ₹25 lakh (US$31,000) | Sarthak Bhardwaj | Sakshi Tripathi |
Celebrity MasterChef
| Season | Primary Network | Online VOD | No. of episodes | First Aired | Last Aired | Prize Money | Winner | Runner-up |
| 1 | Sony Entertainment Television | SonyLIV | | 27 January 2025 | | | | |

### Season 1 (2010)

MasterChef India 1 aired from 16 October 2010 to 25 December 2010 on StarPlus. Hosted by Akshay Kumar, Kunal Kapur and Ajay Chopra, it was won by Pankaj Bhadouria.

### Season 2 (2011)

MasterChef India 2 aired from 22 October 2011 to 1 January 2012 on StarPlus. Hosted by Vikas Khanna, Kunal Kapur and Ajay Chopra, it was won by Shipra Khanna. Nita Mehta and Bijou Thaangjam also participated in the program.

### Season 3 (2013)

MasterChef India 3 aired from 11 March 2013 to 9 June 2013 on StarPlus. While the previous seasons were on weekends, this season aired during weekdays. Hosted by Vikas Khanna, Kunal Kapur and Sanjeev Kapoor, it was won by Ripudaman Handa.

### Season 4 (2015)

MasterChef India 4 aired from 26 January 2015 to 12 April 2015 on StarPlus. For the first time in the history of MasterChef, a pure vegetarian format was introduced. Hosted by Sanjeev Kapoor, Vikas Khanna and Ranveer Brar, Written by Gunjan Joshi, it was won by Nikita Gandhi.

### Season 5 (2016)

MasterChef India 5 aired from 1 October 2016 to 25 December 2016 on StarPlus. Hosted by Vikas Khanna, Kunal Kapur and Zorawar Kalra. Kirti Bhoutika won the competition, with Ashima Arora finishing in the second place.

### Season 6 (2019)

MasterChef India 6 aired from 7 December 2019 to 1 March 2020 on StarPlus. Hosted by Vikas Khanna, Ranveer Brar and Vineet Bhatia, Written by Gunjan Joshi. The winner was Abinas Nayak, with Oindrila Bala as the runner-up.

### Season 7 (2023)

The seventh season of the Hindi version of MasterChef India was announced on 5 August 5, 2022, hosted by the judges Vikas Khanna, Ranveer Brar and Garima Arora. It aired from 2 January 2023 to 31 March 2023 on SET and was also streamed on SonyLIV. The winner was Nayanjyoti Saikia, who got prize money of ₹25,00,000 and the first runner-up was Santa Sarmah and second runner-up was Suvarna Bagul. They both got prize money of ₹5,00,000.
After the finale of season 7, it was revealed that a spinoff would premier, titled "MasterChef India - MasterClass". The show will feature the same judges and contestants as the 7th season of MasterChef, but instead the judges will cook for the contestants, teaching them skills and recipes.

### Season 8 (2023)

The eighth season of the Hindi version of MasterChef India was announced on July 7, 2023, hosted by the judges Pooja Dhingra, Vikas Khanna and Ranveer Brar. It premiered exclusively on SonyLIV on 16 October 2023. The winner of this season was Mohammed Ashiq from Mangalore.

## Spin-off editions
### Junior MasterChef India

Junior MasterChef India premiered on 17 August 2013 on StarPlus. This was the first and the only season of the junior spin-off. The season was won by Sarthak Bhardwaj in the finale held on 2 November 2013 .

### Celebrity MasterChef

Celebrity MasterChef premiered on Sony Entertainment Television in 2025. Farah Khan, for the first time, joined as the host of the show. Vikas Khanna and Ranveer Brar reprised their role as judges from the original series.

## Production

In 2010, Star India licensed the rights for producing MasterChef India in Hindi.
From 2023, the show will air on Sony Entertainment Television.

## Reception

Season 1 opened with an average ratings of 2.6 TVR. The following week, it garnered 2.5 TVR. Overall it ranged around over 2 and 3 TVR. The finale garnered the highest viewership rating of 4.2 TVR.
Season 2 premiered with 2.01 TVR and ended with 2.6 TVR.
Season 3 opened with 2.2 TVR while the following weeks garnered a decent ratings between 2 and 2.3 TVR the finale became the most watched reality show of the week with 3.7 TVR.
Season 6 garnered low ratings ranging 0.8 and 1.1 TRP.