Dining With The Kapoors: 'They eat kilos of rice, their love for food surpasses everything,' reveals Tarun Mansukhani - Exclusive

Steering this experiment from the sidelines is Tarun Mansukhani, who joins the project as creative producer.

The trailer of Dining With The Kapoors has already ignited massive curiosity, as it offered fans a rare, unfiltered peek into one of Bollywood’s most celebrated families. But behind the laughter, the chaos, and the irresistible food shots lies a creative experiment unlike anything the Kapoor clan, or viewers, have experienced before.

Steering this experiment from the sidelines is Tarun Mansukhani, who joins the project as creative producer. For him, the show’s warm, irreverent energy stems from something universal - “We’re too tired of being mature and making sense all the time,” he says. Families thrive in their own brand of playful nonsense, and the Kapoors, as it turns out, are no exception.

What Tarun witnessed was not stardom performing for the camera, but a family returning to its roots, its rituals, and most importantly its legendary appetite. In this exclusive conversation for MoneyControl, he unpacks how a seemingly simple lunch became a cinematic celebration of legacy, food, and familial madness.

Tarun Mansukhani is effusive when talking about the early reactions. Viewers, he says, are already enjoying the “nonsense and the banter” that the Kapoors share so naturally. It’s that very chaos that he finds precious. “I think with all families… we all end up doing a lot of nonsense with each other. I know I do it with my family as well. So for me, nonsense is a good thing.”

As creative producer, Tarun describes his role as being “the coach on the sidelines,” guiding from the background while ensuring the actors stayed candid and comfortable. His biggest task during the main shoot, especially during the much-anticipated lunch, was to maintain a space where the family could forget the cameras. “On the floor, you're there making sure that they kind of forget that there are cameras.” In this unusual format, he couldn’t direct anyone; the only real interventions involved nudging a cameraman toward a conversation unfolding somewhere across the room.

Tarun credits Armaan Jain entirely for making the project possible. The idea of bringing the entire Kapoor family together, he recalls, seemed almost impossible. “My initial reaction… was best of luck,” he laughs, remembering the logistical nightmare. Yet Armaan personally reached out to each family member, and their response was instant and affectionate - 'If he wants to do it, we’re doing it.' What followed was eight hours of unfiltered, chaotic magic that editor Geeta would later condense into a tight 1 hour 10 minute film. “Here’s the gem,” she told the team.

But filming came with challenges, especially covering 25 people with only five or six cameras so as not to be intrusive. Tarun Mansukhani describes trailing cameramen, tugging at their T-shirts when he heard a spark of a conversation elsewhere. Often, by the time they arrived, the moment had shifted and then it was a mad scramble back. Still, he insists, “there was nothing that we chose to cut out,” only a long process of selecting the funniest moments.

The dining table, he says, became the heart of the film, much as it is the heart of every home. It gave structure, intimacy, and control over the coverage. While Armaan cooked “and did not feed me on that day,” Tarun jokes, the rest of the family revealed their warm, messy, deeply bonded dynamic. “I suddenly started to realise that this is just an ordinary family having lunch, except that their love for food surpasses anybody's love for food that I have seen. They all have these dishes that they love and from particular restaurants that they are aware of around the world. It's just amazing to see the kind of bond that they share, which is gone through so many generations,” he admits. Their love for food, however, was extraordinary. “They are partly junglies when it comes to food,” he laughs.

What surprised him most was the legacy present in the room. “This entire table… stems literally from one man,” he reflects, referring to Raj Kapoor. Yet stardom stayed outside the door. Inside, generational memories, often hilariously food-related—took over. “How can every memory be about food?” he remembers thinking. “And you can only sit down while you're behind the camera wondering, where is it all going? Why is it that we get a reaction to every gram of grain of rice that we eat? Whereas these people who are eating in kilos have no effect on their bodies whatsoever!”

There were standout unscripted moments too, like a game one family member initiated, revealing the Kapoors’ playful competitiveness, and Rima Jain unexpectedly taking over the piano. “I had no idea… she was just amazing,” Tarun says.

Also read: Why is Alia Bhatt missing from Dining With The Kapoors? Armaan Jain clarifies

As for Alia Bhatt’s absence, he clarifies she was shooting and couldn’t attend. Audience reactions, positive or critical, don’t faze him. “I don't think you can prepare for any reactions,” he says.

Ultimately, he hopes viewers take away three things - “the fun, the normalcy and the nostalgia.” Because once the food arrives, he says, “the family just became themselves" and that’s exactly what Dining With The Kapoors wants to celebrate.