Sahil Khattar and Amol Parashar on their journeys, parents, food, and more

Sahil Khattar and Amol Parashar defied the odds to emerge as two of the freshest names in the entertainment industry. Here, they recount their journeys in Mumbai for a brand new season of Lunchbox

This was so much fun that it felt like old friends catching up after a while. But Sahil Khattar and Amol Parashar knew each other only casually before they sat down for a brand new season of Lunchbox at Yazu – Pan Asian Supper Club in Andheri. Sahil is a digital content-creator-cum-TV-show host-cum-film actor whose new movie, 200, is just around the corner. Amol is the golden boy of Indian web shows whose latest project is Feels Like Ishq. They got along like such a house on fire that even an entire newspaper page might not do justice to their repartee. That's why it's prudent for you to also head to mid-day's YouTube channel to check out a longer video version of their interaction. Meanwhile, here are the best, handpicked nuggets of chatter.

 
Shunashir to Sahil: I've heard that your parents wanted you to join the family business. Is that true?
Sahil (laughs):Yes, but mereko bohot bada keeda tha, yaar. I just wanted to do something in the entertainment business and the whole world was against it, not just my parents. I'll tell you about an incident. This is amazing. My brother's friends are really the who's-who of Panchkula near Chandigarh, and one day, one of them made me sit and said, 'Hey youngeshter, kya karega Bombay jaake? Sab bhaandgiri hain.' Then he took the name of a top Bollywood actor, saying, 'Ek baar yeh hamaare ghar aaye thhe. Humne unko 'hello' tak nahin bola.' And I thought, 'Isme teri ego kahaan se aa gayi?!' As if that actor wanted a 'hello' from that one person sitting in the corner with that hairstyle. But that's how people used to think, and I'm very happy that I proved them wrong.
Shunashir to Amol:And for you, after your theater days in IIT Delhi, your acting career stalled for a bit and you entered the corporate world.
Amol: It was not a career [laughs]. I basically got a job, which was the original plan — go to IIT and get a decent job. Thankfully, that happened and I moved to Pune. And that's when realization dawned because when I didn't have the stage anymore, I understood how much I enjoyed acting. I began thinking of taking a break from my job, a sabbatical. So I told my parents, and they were disturbed. They didn't realize the journey I had already envisioned in my head.
Shunashir: That's a kind that both of you share then, of your parents having a problem with you taking a plunge into the entertainment industry.
Amol:I mean, it's a very natural thing to happen to North-Indian middle-class parents [who'd say], 'Yeh kya kar rahe ho?' They've heard all these horror stories from bhaiyas who say 'youngeshter'. But these are genuine emotions. It's not like they were making it up.

The dishes — prawn tempura roll, signature turnip cake, veg burnt garlic fried rice, spicy cottage cheese and pad Thai — arrive.
Sahil: The food here is amazing. But bro [when it comes to culinary choices], I am very desi. The only thing that can make me leave my diet is chhole-bature that's homemade, or alu-puri, samosa chaat or gol gappe. In fact, since my parents have shifted to Bombay, they have taught the cook to make these things exactly how we all like it. 
Shunashir: So they have brought a bit of Firozpur and Jalandhar [which is where Sahil's parents hail from] to Bombay?
Sahil: Exactly!
Shunashir:Right. Now, here's a fun fact about Sahil. If you're at a party with him, you'll listen to the song Brown munde by AP Dhillon at least six times. What is it, Sahil? Please explain. What happens [in your head when you listen to that track]?
Sahil: Listen, first of all, whatever royalties that they deserve from Bombay should come to me [laughs]. I was the first one in every circle who'd go, 'Listen to Brown munde, bro. That's the shizz.' I blindly connect with Punjabi music; I just can't do without it. And I connect to this track because I myself am a brown munda who's trying to make it on his own, so I come from that philosophy.
Amol:For me, I can spend time without watching anything, listening to anything, and maybe just reading a little bit. I can be on my own. That's my down time. It's like a machine jo bahut tez chalegi jab usko chalna hai, aur jab nahin chalna hai toh bilkul hi bandh ho jaayegi. Matlab ekdam rest mode pe. I like to day-dream. And somewhere I feel that I left my job because I didn't get time to do that. They catch you if you day-dream.
Sahil: There's no Mungerilal ke Haseen Sapne [a '90s TV show about a day-dreamer].
Shunashir: Yes, but then life has come a full circle for both of you. Your parents were apprehensive about your first flight ticket to Bombay, and now they are actually living with you in the same city having had the confidence to let their sons fly.
Amol:That shows their belief that 'Yeh toh yahin rehne waala hain.' That is the investment even they are making. For the first few years, they thought, 'Kya pata kisi din aa jayega wapas saying, 'Mujhse galti ho gayi.' But now that they are convinced that their son is going to be here, they think that let's all be here together, as a family.
Sahil: And that's beautiful. I mean, all eggs are in one basket now, and the basket is us. And obviously there is a worry ke woh basket ka kya hoga. But whenever people ask me that I'm a bachelor who's not even in a relationship, so why is it that I live with my parents, I tell them, 'Pehle main chahta thha ke main star banu. Ab do aur log aagaye hain jo mere jitney hi determined hain mujhe star banane.”

Quick takes

Vada pav or sev puri?
Amol: At this moment, vada pav.
Sahil: Sev puri. Mereko chatpata pasand hai.

Bandra or SoBo?
Amol: Bandra, because that's till where my limit is. Rarely have I had any reason to go to South Bombay. I am also more used to Bandra because I have spent more time there, I know people there and I have hung out in those lanes. 
Sahil: Andheri for me. I live in the same building I used to live in eight years ago. It's just that I have now bought houses there. That's why I am very loyal to Andheri, because it has given me whatever it has. I just don't think I will ever be able to leave even if I can afford the SoBos and Bandras of Bombay. Yahan chappal ghisne ki yaad aati hai.

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