Star chef Hemant Oberoi surprised to learn Anupam Kher plays him in Hollywood film on 26/ 11 Mumbai attacks
Shaheen Parkar (MID-DAY; August 20, 2016)

The darkest memory of celebrity chef Hemant Oberoi’s four-decade career at the Taj is the subject of an upcoming Hollywood production, Hotel Mumbai, but he wasn’t aware of it until hitlist got in touch with him. Anupam Kher will play Oberoi in the film set against the 26/ 11 Mumbai terror attacks. He has started shooting in Adelaide where the Taj Mahal hotel has been recreated in a studio.

“Is it so,” Oberoi, 62, asks, and adds, “I had no clue that a film is being made. It is difficult for someone to get a feel of what happened that night. Anyone can hear stories and sympathise, but only people who went through the ordeal know what it was actually like.”

Though he has rustled up meals for the high and mighty from all over the world, Oberoi cannot recall meeting Kher. He says, “I have never met Mr Kher nor have I ever served him at the hotel.”

Oberoi is intrigued by how he will be portrayed on the big screen by the 61-year-old actor. “It is a film and I do not want to give my opinion without knowing what it is exactly,” he says.

A name synonymous with the Taj group, Oberoi hung up his apron last year after over four decades of being associated with the hospitality chain. On the night of the 26/11 attacks when the Taj came under attack, Oberoi kept his kitchen running to serve traumatised guests and at one point, even came face-to-face with one of the terrorists who had stormed the hotel.

Helmed by Anthony Maras, the film is inspired by docu filmmaker Andrew Ogilvie’s Surviving Mumbai. Ogilvie is one of the coproducers of the project which also stars Dev Patel, Jason Isaacs, Armie Hammer and Tilda Boniadi.

Book extract

Chef Oberoi realised that his Kitchen Brigade could, unseen by anyone front of house, probably utilise the hotel’s labyrinth of service lifts, stairs and passages to move guests into one central and protected location. He called Karambir Kang, who was pacing outside the hotel, to sound him out. The hotel’s invitation — only Chambers club was ideal, he argued. Consisting of a suite of rooms, a bar and a library, it occupied a large area on the first floor, between the Crystal Room and the kitchens, overlooking the Gateway of India. It was not marked on hotel brochures and only the most frequent Taj visitors would have noticed it at all, perhaps glancing at the discreet plaque beside the Tower’s lift buttons as they headed up to Souk, although the stop could only be accessed by staff, or by using a club key. Karambir agreed. The Chambers was an invisible refuge. He suggested Chef Oberoi begin immediately, starting with the people who were nearest to the Chambers, the wedding reception guests in the Crystal Room. Shortly after 10.30 p.m., chefs and waiters had guided a column of guests down a service corridor, popping out into the club’s foyer.

Edging out of the doorway, Oberoi spotted Banja, his friend and foil since 1986, lying prone and bloodied just a few metres to his right. He couldn’t reach him and felt sick. Was this how it would end? He had overheard Banja pledging to Anjali Pollack and others that he would rather die than let them suffer and he prayed that Banja was just concussed. Everything had a fix. You learned that at the Taj, where the tectonic plates of service frequently ran slightly out of kilter, overheating and colliding, only to be eased back into position with the helpful jolt of someone’s elbow. Just then a gunman locked eyes with Oberoi and let off a furious volley. Blind panic washed over the Executive Chef and looking around for a way out he glimpsed two assistant managers heading down towards the cellars and a third figure madly waving at him. It was his Food and Beverage Manager: ‘RUN.’ He was pointing to the stairs. A group of staff and guests pulled the dazed Oberoi towards them, all of them descending into an unlit warren of cabins, lockers and storage rooms. He tried to drag himself away. ‘I need to get to Banja,’ he cried. Someone stopped him: ‘Sir, please don’t go back, it’s too late’.

Extracted with permission from Penguin India, The Siege, Three Days Of Terror inside the Taj by Cathy Scott- Clark and Adrian Levy, Penguin India