Cooku with Comali fame chef Damodharan honored with Padmashri award
Chef and television personality Damodharan, fondly known as Chef Damu, has been awarded the prestigious
Padma Shri
, one of India's highest civilian honours, for his exceptional contributions to the
culinary arts
.
A celebrated figure in Indian households, Chef Damu
rose
to widespread fame as a judge on the popular television show
Cooku with Comali
. His career, which spans several decades, is a testament to his passion for
South Indian cuisine
and his dedication to preserving traditional cooking techniques. Notably, Chef Damu was the first Indian chef to enter the
Guinness Book of World Records
for preparing the largest number of dishes in a single day — a milestone that showcases his culinary prowess and innovation.
Beyond his achievements in the kitchen, Chef Damu's charismatic presence and deep culinary knowledge have been key elements of Cooku with Comali's success. His mentorship and encouragement to budding chefs on the show have endeared him to millions of viewers across the country.
This Padma
Shri
honour not only highlights his individual excellence but also recognises his larger contribution in inspiring a new generation of chefs and elevating
Indian cuisine
on the global stage. Fans across the country have flooded social media with celebratory messages, hailing this award as a 'long-overdue recognition for a true culinary legend.'
With this latest honour,
Chef Damodharan
continues to embody the spirit of culinary innovation and cultural pride, further cementing his legacy as an icon in India's gastronomic journey.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
NDTV
18 minutes ago
- NDTV
Enrique Iglesias To Perform In Mumbai On This Date, Check Out The Venue Details
It's official! Spanish singer-songwriter Enrique Iglesias is returning to India after 13 long years for a live show. The singer, popular among Indian fans for such as Hero, Rhythm Divine, Bailamos, and Love To See You Cry, will perform in Mumbai in October. Enrique Iglesias will regale fans at a concert on October 30 at MMRDA Grounds in Mumbai's Bandra Kurla Complex. The event is produced and promoted by EVA Live in partnership with BEW Live, according to a press release. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Eva Live (@ Deepak Chaudhary, Founder and Managing Director, EVA Live, said bringing Enrique Iglesias back to India after 13 years is a truly historic moment. "The anticipation among fans has been palpable, and we are overjoyed to facilitate this reunion. With a resurgence of interest in iconic international acts, Iglesias epitomizes a timeless allure that bridges generations, and this tour reaffirms our dedication to delivering world-class entertainment while elevating India's stature on the global touring stage," Chaudhary said in a statement. Registrations for the show are now open on District By Zomato. Enrique Iglesias will deliver a career-spanning setlist encompassing both iconic standards and contemporary chart-toppers from his three-decade-plus career, the release further stated. He last toured the country in 2012 with his Euphoria World Tour, performing in Pune, Gurugram, and Bengaluru. In May, there were reports that Enrique Iglesias will perform in India soon. Back in 2019, Enrique had shared a video on Instagram, from his India trip. A reporter from a Mexican TV channel was already in the car interviewing the singer.
India.com
32 minutes ago
- India.com
Meet actor, who runs India's third-largest beer brand, beats Vijay Mallya, is now..., name is..., net worth is Rs...
It's been over 5 decades since he has been working in cinemas, played as a main lead hero, villain, did many cameos, started his business and whatnot. We are talking about Danny Denzongpa, who is well-known for his iconic roles in Bollywood classics, and later started a brewery. Beginning with a modest operation in his native Sikkim, he blended his entrepreneurial spirit with his heritage to build a company that would eventually experience rapid expansion. Danny grew his company throughout the years by establishing breweries in various areas, including Assam and Odisha. His brand, Yuksom Breweries, gained a competitive edge over bigger, more established competitors thanks to these expansions, which enabled him to enter the northeastern Indian market, where there is a rising demand for high-quality beer. One of India's leading beer brands Currently, Yuksom Breweries is India's third-largest domestic beer producer after Kimaya and Kingfisher. His brewery is a prominent player in the Indian beer sector, closely competing with large national and international brands, with an annual production of hundreds of thousands of hectoliters. According to Yuksom's website, the company can produce 6.8 lakh HL annually. Higher-producing brands like Hogaarden, Budweiser, Carlsberg, and others are all foreign. Mint reported that he even outpaced Vijay Mallya's United Breweries in market share. Danny Denzongpa's net worth According to reports, Veteran actor and entrepreneur Danny Denzongpa has a net worth of $30 million (approx. Rs 250 crore), earned through decades in cinema and successful business ventures. Boosting regional economies The local economy in the areas where Danny's breweries are located has benefited from his business endeavours. His company has made a significant contribution to the growth and development of the area by producing a significant amount of income and creating hundreds of jobs. According to the reports of Sikkim Express, in 2022, the breweries in the northeast employed 250 people and contributes around Rs 100 crore to the local economy every year. Danny continues to appear in movies and television shows while running a successful brewery, demonstrating his adaptability and commitment to his artistic career and business goals. Many aspiring actors and businesspeople find encouragement in his ability to balance both professions.
Indian Express
35 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Star of Bollywood's Golden Era died penniless due to flamboyant lifestyle, influenced Amitabh Bachchan and won praise from Mahatma Gandhi
In a decade spanning 60 films in which he played dashing leading men, charming supporting characters, and menacing villains, actor Motilal left a stamp on Indian cinema that many feel is being erased. Among the stars he influenced are Naseeruddin Shah, Amitabh Bachchan and Dilip Kumar. He remains best known for playing Chunilal in the 1955 adaptation, which featured Dilip Kumar and Vyjayanthimala in the lead roles. But despite his popularity, Motilal reportedly died penniless and under-appreciated. 'There should be a retrospective of his best work. Motilal should be studied in acting schools because he's an all-time great,' filmmaker Sudhir Mishra told The Times of India in a 2015 interview. Motilal was born in Shimla in the year 1910. He got his first break as a lead with the film Shaher Ka Jadoo (1934), but his first hit was Mehboob Khan's Jagirdar (1938). He won a Filmfare Award for his performance in Devdas, but is also well regarded for the work he did in movies such as Sampat (1952), Anadi (1959), and Paigham (1959). 'Not much has been written in praise of a great and very natural actor. Motilal was ahead of his times. Were he alive today, his sheer versatility would have ensured a place for him even now. In fact, he would be doing much better than any of us,' Bachchan wrote about him in the foreword to the book The Hundred Luminaries of Indian Cinema. In a 2023 interview with Film Companion, Naseeruddin Shah said about younger generation of actors, 'It's great that they're standing on the shoulders of Om Puri, myself, Shabana Azmi, Smita PaTIL, Farooque Sheikh, just as we were standing on the shoulders of Balraj Sahni and Motilal.' Also read – Bollywood's biggest star of the 1950s became destitute, Amitabh Bachchan spotted him 'alone, unnoticed' at a bus stop: 'I drove on…' Motilal gained the admiration of none other than Mahatma Gandhi after doing a film on untouchability. Film historian Firoz Rangoonwala was quoted as saying by Mayapuri Magazine, 'KL Saigal was a singer-star of heavy subjects and much bigger than Motilal, the lighter counterpart of fun-loving Bombay and its answer, Calcutta. However, by the early 1940s, Motilal was choosing bold plots too. He played an untouchable in Achhut (1940), a progressive film that won praise even from Mahatma Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel.' Read more – This 1950s superstar owned a 25-room bungalow, seven imported cars; died in a chawl: 'I was a mazdoor millionaire, it was god's way of punishing me' Motilal was also known for his flamboyant personal life, marked by a love for gambling and flying. He is said to have lost a lot of money maintaining this lavish lifestyle. He was in a live-in relationship with Shobhna Samarth, the grandmother of actor Kajol and mother of Tanuja. 'I have survived three heart attacks, an air crash, a near-drowning, and several rotten films,' he joked to the TOI in 1965, the year of his death at the age of 54. He was reportedly 'penniless' at the time, having made some bad investments and lost a lot of money on a passion project that he'd produced. The film Choti Choti Baten released posthumously. He received two National Awards after his death. The government of India issued a stamp commemorating Motilal in 2013. Read more – 'His wife was found begging at railway station': Forgotten composer who launched Lata Mangeshkar and Kishore Kumar died penniless In a 1963 interview, Motilal was quoted as saying about his final film role, 'He has an air of ineffable sadness and, inside of him, he is full of goodness to the world—a world which hasn't been all good to him, in which he finds ultimate dignity only in death. This is my most recent role but the one I have wanted to do longest. In visualising the Motilal of my film, a suburban philosopher, a man who is silently asking himself: 'Where is peace?' and is led on from corner to corner, I have borrowed of myself, of many echoes from all my yesterdays.' Incidentally, his final character was named Motilal as well.
