Kunal Vijayakar Age, Wife, Family, Biography & More

Some Lesser Known Facts About Kunal Vijayakar

• Kunal Vijayakar is an Indian broadcaster, food writer, actor, TV personality and YouTuber. He is known for running a YouTube channel named ‘Khaane Mein Kya Hai’ which has around 312K subscribers. He is also known for being the host of India’s most well-known food show, ‘The Foodie- with Kunal Vijayakar.’ He has worked as a food columnist and writer with The Times of India, Bombay Times, DNA, Asian Age, Mahanagar, and The Week and in 2023, he is a food writer and columnist with Hindustan Times.

• Kunal grew up in Mazagon Docks, Mumbai’s prominent shipbuilding yard because his father was a marine engineer there.

• In an interview, Kunal’s mother said that as a newborn baby, he rejected milk and insisted on pork roast.
  

  Kunal Vijayakar as a child with his mother

• When he was in school, he liked only lunch breaks. His lunch box was always hot lunch.

• He was not very good in his studies since childhood. He failed twice in class 12. In an interview, he said that he did not like science at all and regretted wasting three years of his life after opting for it. He further added that he could have directly taken admission to JJ School of Art after 10 itself. He wanted to study architecture, but his grades did not permit.
  

  Kunal Vijayakar when he was a youngster

• According to him, his paternal and maternal grandmothers used to make many different dishes for him when he was young which led to his interest in food. In an interview, he talked about this and said,
  

  My paternal grandfather would get handwritten recipes from his sojourns across the globe so that my granny could try out a new dish. After my father’s demise, I lived with my maternal grandmother. Our house had a vegetarian kitchen and non-vegetarian kitchen, and she did most of the cooking for our joint family of 10 members.”

• As a kid, he used to visit iconic restaurants such as Gaylords, Horseshoe and Paradise in South Mumbai with his family.

• When he was 12 years old, he made his first dish at home which was butter chicken. He ate butter chicken at Fountain Plaza and fell in love with it and wanted to eat it all the time but he could not afford it every day. So, he learned to cook it and whenever he wanted to eat he would cook it at home.

• Kunal began his career in advertising and theatre. He worked at a top advertising agency, Da Cunha Associates for 11 years as a copywriter and visualiser.

• After leaving his job at the agency, he started writing columns called Fool’s Stop for the Bombay Times. One day his editor-in-chief called him and asked him to write food columns and not humour columns, so he started writing a food column called, Cordon Blah. While working at the agency, he appeared in several English plays and various TV commercials.

• In the 1990s, Raell Padamsee, the Indian theatre personality, was working on a play for children and asked Kunal to audition for a role. When he went for the audition, he met Cyrus Broacha, who was the casting director for the very first time. They met each other in 1991 during the reading of the play, Alibaba and Bablu the Bear. At that time, Cyrus thought that Kunal’s audition was not good, but his face would work for the role.
  

  Kunal Vijayakar with Cyrus Broacha during one of their plays

• In 2006, when he was working with The Times of India, they launched their TV channel, Times Now and approached him to do a show. The name of the show was ‘The Foodie’ where he just had to visit different places and taste food. So, he took the offer and it started his food journey. The show became a huge hit, airing for nine years without a break and featuring nearly 500 episodes. In the show, he was seen travelling across the country trying out unique and special foods.
  

  Kunal Vijayakar on the show ‘The Foodie’

• In 2006, he started working as an actor, director and political satirist of the satirical political show ‘The Week That Wasn’t’ on CNN News18, along with his close friend Cyrus Broacha. Kunal played the character of Mayawati, Jayalalitha, Usha Uthup, Sheila Dixit, Sushma Swaraj, Bappi Lahiri, Nitin Gadkari, Sharad Pawar, and Narendra Modi on the show. In an interview, he talked about the jokes they made about politics and said,
  

  Politics has been a perennial source of humour and whoever is in power or out of power, there is always some rubbish going on and there is always enough fodder for humour. I must say, though, that we have never fallen short of subject matter as far as humour is concerned. When it comes to Indian politics or current affairs, there is enough nonsense. There is always some joker or the other doing something really stupid.”

  

  Kunal Vijayakar (left) as Mayawati on the show ‘The Week That Wasn’t’

• Kunal has played many female roles on TV shows and on stage. In an interview, on being asked the reason behind it, he said that he hailed from a family where many of his family members were talented artists. In the interview, he talked about his father’s uncle who was a renowned Marathi stage actor who only played female roles. Kunal often looked at his pictures and saw him wearing a saree.

• He also collaborated with Cyrus Broacha on a comedy sketch show called “Cyrusitis,” which was written and directed by Broacha.

• He appeared in supporting roles in many Hindi movies, including Paisa Vasool (2004) and Salaam Namaste (2005) with Saif Ali Khan and Preity Zinta. He played the role of a journalist in the Hindi film Ghajini (2008). He appeared as Kunal in the film Little Zizou (2009) which was a story of the Parsi community.
  

  Kunal Vijayakar in the film ‘Ghajini’ as a journalist

• As an actor, he appeared in other Hindi films including Bollywood Calling (2001), Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon (2003), Ab Tak Chhappan (2004), Jo Bole So Nihal (2005), 340 (2009), Guilty (2020), Hello Charlie (2021), and Shehzada (2023).
  

  Kunal Vijayakar in the film ‘Shehzada’

• In 1999, he directed the television show ‘MTV Bakra’ on MTV.
  

  Poster of the show ‘MTV Bakra’

• He debuted as a screenwriter and film director in 2009 with the comedy film ‘Fruit and Nut’ starring Dia Mirza, Cyrus Broacha, Boman Irani, and Mahesh Manjrekar. The film did not gain much popularity but it led to Kunal’s great bond with actor Boman Irani. In an interview, Kunal said that Boman did not charge any money from him to act in the film.
  

  Poster of the film ‘Fruit and Nut’ (2009)

• In 2011, he started writing a funny column called “Funda Mental” every two weeks in The Week magazine.

• In 2014, he started a private company named ‘A Fracas Entertainment Private Limited’ in Mumbai. He serves as the director of the company.

• His first cookbook was ‘Made In India’ which was published by Jaico in 2015.
  

  Cover of the cookbook written by Kunal Vijayakar

• In 2016, he and Cyrus performed ‘40 Shades of Grey (Hair)’ a standup cum theatrical play based on the life and times of Indian men after the age of 40.

• In 2018, Kunal and Cyrus appeared in a memoir ‘How I Met Your Father’ which was a narration of the time spent between them to their daughter.

• He has established the Kunal Vijayakar’s Academy for Culinary Arts, Mumbai which teaches students about food safety, cooking styles, different cuisines, and even food presentations.

• In 2020, he started a YouTube channel with the name ‘Khaane Mein Kya Hai’ which has around 312K subscribers. In 2023, Kunal invited Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to his show Khaane Mein Kya Hai? where they were seen enjoying Dilli’s chole bhature, kebabs and mohabbat ka sharbat. ^[4]Kunal Vijayakar – YouTube Channel
  

  Kunal Vijayakar on his YouTube channel with Rahul Gandhi

• In 2023, he entered as a guest in the reality show Bigg Boss OTT Season 2 along with food vlogger, Devashree Sanghvi.
  

  Kunal Vijayakar in the show ‘Bigg Boss OTT Season 2’

• Cyrus and Kunal have known each other for over three decades. According to Cyrus, in the initial days of his career, when Kunal used to do plays, he smoked a lot. Cyrus and Kunal have been to jail thrice for breaking police barricades after consuming alcohol. In an interview, Kunal said that he broke up with many girls on behalf of Cyrus because Cyrus was afraid of breaking up. According to Cyrus, Kunal’s phone is never in silent or vibration mode and rings very loudly when someone calls him. This habit of Kunal annoys Cyrus a lot.

• Kunal constantly coughs because he used to smoke, but he has quit smoking. ^[5]DNA However, he is often spotted consuming alcohol in his social media posts.
  

  A picture posted by Kunal Vijayakar on Instagram where he is drinking beer

• He adapts to the behaviours and traits of others but cannot get rid of them easily.

• In an interview, Kunal revealed that he used to take sleeping pills for many years. ^[6]The Times of India

• Kunal is mostly seen wearing shorts while filming reviews or visiting various restaurants.

• His house is like a gallery where there are a few Buddha statues and the walls have paintings, some made by him and a few others by MF Husain and FN Souza prints.

• He has also cooked with MasterChef Australia judge Matt Preston at an event.

• Kunal has also worked as a latex underwear salesman for some time.

• In 2022, Kunal lost over 20 kgs of weight without any diet plan or workout. He used the technology-based approach, The NeuroLeap personalised brain enhancement program that helped enhance his subconscious brain and helped him lose weight. ^[7]ANI
  

  A collage of Kunal Vijayakar’s pictures before (left) and after (right) losing 20 kilos of weight