Cooking with a simple twist

HYDERABAD: Started by four Telugu boys hailing from different backgrounds, Bachelor Room lo Bawarchi or (BRB) is a healthy mix of a food channel and an entertaining web series. A story of three bachelors who struggle both through life and hunger pangs features Rajesh Khanna, Arun Kumar and Rishyankh Das.

“We figured that although cooking would be a part of the episode, there should also be a bit of entertainment added to it, which is why we have a series of episodes interspersed with the dish we present in that episode,” explains Rishyankh aka Rishi who is the chef among the three bachelors. Rajesh on the other hand plays the software employee and Arun is the food-lover who always has Rishi’s back.

While BRB is essentially a cooking channel, being a part of Chai Bisket, an entertainment portal, they believe that they are expected to serve a good helping of entertainment as well. “We have people who watch the show for the story progressing the series while some watch it particularly for the dish being prepared,” says Abhinai Krishna, writer for BRB, adding, “The dish for the week is woven into the story.” Budget Biryani, he says was one such episode where the characters run out of money and they have to make a meal out of `150.

Bachelor Room lo Bawarchi despite being a concept in the pipeline for a very long time only came to fruition when Rishi, an enthusiast of the culinary arts chanced upon Chai Bisket. “I started my own food truck before this which didn’t really work out. I joined Chai Bisket as a writer but when I found out that this was a series that the channel had planned out for quite some time, I jumped at it,” says Rishi. Rajesh too had a likewise story. Hailing from Kadapa, he quit his 9-5 job to turn to acting. Arun Kumar, the youngest of the four at 21, started off with making video memes until he joined the channel full time. Abhinai who also recently joined as a writer has big plans for the series.

“The idea was to make interesting food from whatever is available - like in any bachelor room. That is the reason we don’t use any heavy equipment or fancy ingredients. We cook also on an induction stove,” explains Rishi.

So far, the response for the 25 episodes has been great says the team. “We have people from various Telugu cities sending us messages and pictures of the dishes that they tried after watching our episodes,” enthuses Rajesh. Well, as internet goes, they were shunned sometimes too. “One of the comments had a guy complain that the dish isn’t working. But we had to insist on trying it the way we did to get the exact results,” shares Arun. And of course, they have their challenges. Rishi says, “We have to make sure the camera is around during the entire duration of cooking the dish. And sometimes it might not work out the way we wished for it to, like the electric cooker cake.”

After a successful run of 24 episodes - one every Sunday - Bachelor Room lo Bawarchi will be going on a hiatus after their next episode this week. “We want to keep up the quality of our content. These are what you will easily find around the house and these are all that you can do with them. We do not want to force feed content anymore,” says Rishi. However, they do plan on doing a comeback in a few months. “We want to explore more in the food arena, travel and also make upgrades to the characters and the setup that we already have for the next season,” assures Abhinai signing off on behalf of the entire team.