MasterChef Australia: Depinder Chhibber and Kishwar Chowdhury honoured by Indian fan support

MasterChef stars Depinder and Kishwar have been inundated with ‘thousands and thousands’ of messages they didn’t expect.

Two MasterChef Australia contestants are providing a “little ray of light” in Covid-19 ravaged India amid long-running lockdowns and harrowing daily death tolls.

More than 1.36 billion people live in India and with their strong ties to the South Asian country, Depinder Chhibber and Kishwar Chowdhury have been overwhelmed with support and messages from their international fans who watch streamed MasterChef episodes the day after they air in Australia.

And Chhibber said she was hoping to travel back to Delhi to visit some of her almost 80 relatives – many who have recovered from Covid-19 – as soon as possible.

Depinder Chhibber has become a fan favourite on this season of MasterChef Australia. Picture: TEN

“I grew up in Newcastle when we moved to Australia,” Chhibber said. “I was born in India and I lived there for the first 11 years of my life and we went back to India almost every year.

“The only people [in my family] that are overseas are me, my mum and dad and my brother, everyone else is still in India. It’s like up to 80 people, there’s just so many of them every time that I go back, I make sure that I visit every single one of them, especially the older generation.

“I get emotional when I talk about it as well because I wish I could go back, but it’s hard.”

There have been more than 27.4 million coronavirus cases in India with more than 315,000 recorded deaths from the virus. With much of the population staying indoors, both Chhibber and Chowdhury – who have the highest Instagram following of all this year’s contestants – said they were humbled to offer positivity and entertainment.

Depinder hopes to one day travel back to see family in India. Picture: TEN

“People in India, not all of them have big mansions, many people live in very small houses,” Chhibber said.

“Having the whole family there all day can get quite difficult, even claustrophobic. You can’t go anywhere because if you go out, you take the risk of getting Covid and giving it to the rest of your family.

“The messages I receive say, ‘[MasterChef] is our ray of light for the whole day. This is what we look forward to’. Young fans say that their grandparents and families are all watching and they get really excited when they see me on TV because that’s something that they can relate to.”

Chowdhury, who lives in Melbourne, said messages from overseas helped put Victoria’s current lockdown into perspective.

Kishwar Chowdhury is currently working on her Bengali cookbook. Picture: TEN

“My mum’s family is in Calcutta and my dad is from Bangladesh,” she said.

“My in-laws have been locked down for about 500 days and my father-in-law has COPD (Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), so contracting Covid is not an option.”

Chowdhury said she felt a huge responsibility representing the Bengal region in Bangladesh by making Bengali food on MasterChef.

“It’s something I was really aching to see for a very long time, someone who looks like me and represents Bengali food on TV, and I finally got to be that,” she said.

Kishwar Chowdhury on MasterChef. Picture: TEN

“My parents came [to Australia] about 50-odd years ago and something that they always carried was what we ate … it was their connection to home. That’s how they carried their culture, they carried their piece of home through food.”

“I’ve received thousands and thousands of messages [from India] just saying the situation is really bleak and MasterChef Australia airing there is just so big right now.”

One fan wrote: ‘You are bringing smiles on so many people’s faces. India and Bangladesh (are) going through such tough times and you are somehow healing everyone a little’.

Watch MasterChef tonight, 7.30pm on Ten.

Originally published as MasterChef Australia: Depinder Chhibber and Kishwar Chowdhury honoured by Indian fan support