Celebrity chef Dr K Damodharan, popularly known as Chef Damu and spelled Chef Dhamu, died in Chennai on 25 October 2026 at the age of 72 after a brief illness. He was undergoing treatment at a private hospital in the city for the past few days. His death has drawn tributes from across Tamil Nadu for a career that linked Tamil home cooking, professional culinary education and popular television.
Who Is Chef Damu?
Dr K Damodharan, professionally known as Chef Damu, was a Tamil celebrity chef, culinary teacher, cookbook author and television judge from Chennai. Born as Damodharan Kothandaraman on 3 September 1954 in West Mambalam, Chennai, he worked for nearly five decades in hotels, catering colleges and television. The spellings Damu and Dhamu refer to the same person.
He grew up in a middle class family. His father Kothandaraman worked in the Tamil Nadu Secretariat and his mother Kothainayaki was a homemaker. He started his working life washing dishes and rose to become a brand ambassador for a leading hotel group, president of a chefs association and a visiting professor in catering management. For home viewers he was simply Damu Appa, a warm and strict teacher who made professional cooking feel simple.
| Chef Damu Profile | Detail |
|---|---|
| Full name | Damodharan Kothandaraman |
| Popular name | Chef Damu (also written Chef Dhamu), Dr K Damodharan |
| Born | 3 September 1954, West Mambalam, Chennai, Tamil Nadu |
| Died | 25 October 2026, Chennai, age 72 |
| Education | Diploma in Hotel Management, IHM Chennai; B.Com, Madurai Kamaraj University; MBA, University of Madras; PhD, University of Madras |
| Known for | Tamil cuisine, culinary teaching, Cooku With Comali judge, Guinness World Record |
Is Chef Damu Alive or Dead? What Happened to Him?
Chef Damu is no more. He died on 25 October 2026 in a private hospital in Chennai at age 72 after a brief illness. Family sources confirmed the death, ending weeks of rumours about his health, and his last rites were announced in Chennai.
Chef Damu had been unwell for several days before his death. He was admitted to a private hospital in Chennai, where reports placed him at Apollo Hospital, and he died on Sunday, 25 October 2026. The exact medical cause has not been shared publicly by the family. Family sources said his last rites would be held in Chennai on Monday afternoon.
His health had been a topic of public concern for months. In August 2026, false messages about his death spread on social media. Chef Damu then released a video to dismiss the rumours. He explained that his absence from television was due to treatment for a leg problem that required an injection, and that he was recovering. His later appearances in a wheelchair had also led to questions about his health.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay expressed grief on the day of the death. The Chief Minister said Chef Damu had taken the art of cooking to ordinary people through television and called his passing a great loss to the culinary field. He conveyed condolences to the family, friends and fans. Fellow chefs, catering students and television viewers also shared tributes, recalling him as a disciplined teacher who stayed humble after achieving national honours.
From Hotel Trainee to Indias First Chef With a PhD
Chef Damu completed his Diploma in Hotel Management and Catering Technology from the Institute of Hotel Management (IHM), Chennai at Taramani. IHM Chennai is a central government supported institute that trains students in cooking, service and hotel operations. He later earned a B.Com degree from Madurai Kamaraj University and an MBA from the University of Madras. The University of Madras, founded in 1857 and headquartered in Chennai, is one of Indias oldest public universities.
He joined the Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation (TTDC) as a management trainee in 1977. TTDC is a Tamil Nadu government company that runs hotels, restaurants and tour services in the state. He worked in hotel kitchens and management at a time when the word chef carried little respect in India. Colleagues recall that he wanted to change that image and prove that cooking was a skilled and dignified profession.
He entered teaching in 1986 and went on to lead catering institutes as principal and vice president. He served as president of the South Indian Chefs Association and as brand ambassador for the GRT Group of Hotels. He also worked as a visiting professor in catering management. During his teaching years he wrote more than 20 cookbooks for home cooks and four textbooks for catering students, sharing Tamil recipes such as tomato rasam, tomato rice, meen kulambu and biryani in simple Tamil.
In 2004, the University of Madras awarded him a PhD in Hotel Management and Catering Technology. With this, Chef Damu became the first Indian chef to earn a doctorate in this field. A PhD is the highest research degree given by a university for original study in a subject. His doctorate helped argue that food and hospitality were not only craft but also science and education.
One of his most cited public roles was outside hotels and studios. Between 2008 and 2011, Chef Damu helped improve the menu and training for Tamil Nadus mid day meal programme in schools. The scheme provides free lunch to school children to improve nutrition and attendance. He trained about 1,40,000 noon meal workers and introduced new items such as tomato biryani, chickpea pulao, vegetable biryani, bisibelabath, keerai rice and egg varieties to make meals more tasty and nutritious.
Why Did Chef Damu Get the Guinness World Record?
Chef Damu earned the Guinness World Record for the longest cooking marathon by an individual on 22 December 2010 in Chennai. He cooked 617 dishes weighing about 190 kg in 24 hours, 30 minutes and 12 seconds without extended breaks. Guinness World Records is a London based body that verifies such feats under strict time, hygiene and witness rules.
The marathon was a solo effort. He planned the menu, organised ingredients and cooked continuously while judges and witnesses recorded every dish. The record brought national attention because it showed stamina, planning and range across South Indian and multi cuisine dishes. The Government of India citation for his Padma Shri later described the feat as the longest cooking marathon by an individual.
The 2010 record was his best known feat, but it was not his only large scale attempt. Chef Damu was also linked to two other Guinness feats cited in his official profile. He led the making of a 14.7 metre long dosa in Madurai in 2012, and he took part in preparing the worlds largest curry in Little India, Singapore in 2014. A dosa is a thin fermented rice and lentil crepe central to Tamil breakfasts, and scaling it to that length needed custom griddles and team coordination. These feats made him familiar to school children and home cooks who saw food as fun and as record worthy skill.
| Record | Year and Place | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Longest cooking marathon, individual | 22 December 2010, Chennai | 617 dishes, 190 kg, in 24 hours 30 minutes 12 seconds |
| Longest dosa | 2012, Madurai | 14.7 metre dosa prepared in public |
| Largest curry | 2014, Little India, Singapore | Participation in worlds largest curry preparation |
Why Did Chef Damu Get the Padma Shri Award?
Chef Damu received the Padma Shri in 2025 for distinguished service in culinary arts. The Government of India announced the award on 25 January 2025 on the eve of the 76th Republic Day. His name appeared in the official list as Shri K. Damodaran under the field Others, Culinary from Tamil Nadu. He was honoured for linking Tamil cuisine, food education and public service over nearly five decades.
The Padma Awards are among Indias highest civilian honours. They are announced every year on Republic Day and presented by the President of India. The awards have three ranks. Padma Vibhushan is for exceptional and distinguished service, Padma Bhushan is for distinguished service of a high order, and Padma Shri is for distinguished service in any field. In 2025, the government approved 139 Padma Awards, including 7 Padma Vibhushan, 19 Padma Bhushan and 113 Padma Shri awards. The Padma Shri is the fourth highest civilian award after Bharat Ratna, Padma Vibhushan and Padma Bhushan.
Chef Damus citation noted three strands of work. It noted his doctorate and teaching, his Guinness feats that drew youth to cooking, and his service to institutions and school meals. Before him, very few cooks had received such national recognition. Other chefs honoured in earlier years include Tarla Dalal with the Padma Shri in 2007 for cookbooks and home cooking, Imtiaz Qureshi with the Padma Shri in 2016 for reviving Dum Pukht slow cooking, and Sanjeev Kapoor with the Padma Shri in 2017. Chef Damus 2025 honour placed a Tamil teacher chef in that national line and showed catering workers that their craft could earn the countrys highest civilian recognition.
Chef Damu in Cooku With Comali and Tamil Television
Chef Damu became a household name through Tamil television cooking shows, most notably Cooku With Comali on Star Vijay. Cooku With Comali, also called CWC, is a Tamil comedy based cooking contest that began on 16 November 2019. In the show, trained cooks are paired each week with comedians called comalis who are weak in cooking. The pair must finish dishes under time pressure. The show streams on Disney+ Hotstar and airs on Star Vijay, a leading Tamil entertainment channel headquartered in Chennai.
Chef Damu served as a judge from Season 1 onwards. He judged alongside Chef Venkatesh Bhat until Season 4, and later with Madhampatty Rangaraj from Season 5. While Bhat brought jokes and quick comments, Chef Damu brought calm correction. He tasted carefully, explained mistakes in simple Tamil and praised traditional methods. Contestants fondly called him Damu Appa, which means father Damu, for his patient style. Clips of his reactions and his encouragement to nervous comalis remain among the most watched moments from Season 2 and later seasons.
Before CWC, Chef Damu had hosted cooking segments on Jaya TV and other Tamil channels and had appeared in Tamil films in small roles. His film appearances include Kallappadam (2015), Ulkuthu (2017) and Oru Pakka Kathai (2020). His strength on screen was clarity. He broke a recipe into steps, named the exact flame, vessel and grinding texture, and told viewers what could go wrong. That teaching style made his books and shows popular with beginners and catering students alike.
Chef Damu and Venkatesh Bhat
Chef Damu and Venkatesh Bhat together defined the early seasons of Cooku With Comali. Chef Venkatesh Bhat is a Bengaluru based chef known for his humour and for hosting the show Samayal Samayal. On CWC, Chef Damu played the gentle elder while Bhat played the lively friend. Their balance of discipline and comedy helped the show stay popular during the pandemic, when families watched it as a stress buster. After Season 4, Bhat moved out and Madhampatty Rangaraj joined Chef Damu on the judges panel.
Family, Funeral and Public Mourning
Chef Damu is survived by his wife Usha and daughter Akshaya. Akshaya is a doctor working in London. Family sources said the family kept the funeral arrangements simple and in Chennai. His last rites were announced for Monday afternoon at 3 pm in Chennai. He had kept his family life largely private, and the affection for his wife and daughter was visible in the large public response.
Public mourning began within hours of the news. The Tamil Nadu Chief Ministers Office posted condolences on X, praising Chef Damus unique way of taking culinary arts to the people through television. Television colleagues, hotel groups and former students recalled his classroom discipline. Chef Koushik Shankar and Chef Sheetharam Prasaad described him as a mentor who guided confused newcomers and stopped many from leaving the industry. Students said he was strict in the kitchen but kind outside it, and that he always pushed them to respect Tamil ingredients and document forgotten recipes.
Legacy of Chef Damu for Indian Cuisine
Chef Damus legacy rests on three lasting changes. He helped turn cooking into a respected career choice in Tamil Nadu at a time when kitchen jobs had low status. He proved that a chef could also be a researcher, with a doctorate, textbooks and structured training for lakhs of school meal workers. He also showed that Tamil food could lead prime time television without losing its roots.
For readers, his life links several static facts to remember. The Padma Shri is a Republic Day civilian honour given for distinguished service. Guinness World Records verifies public feats under witness rules. The University of Madras awards advanced degrees in hospitality. Star Vijay and Disney+ Hotstar carry Tamil reality shows to global audiences. Chef Damu connected all these spaces, from a TTDC trainee kitchen in 1977 to the Padma list in 2025 and the CWC judges chair from 2019.
Key Takeaways
- Dr K Damodharan (Chef Damu) died in Chennai on 25 October 2026 at age 72 after a brief illness.
- Born on 3 September 1954 in Chennai, he started with TTDC in 1977 and became the first Indian chef to earn a PhD in Hotel Management and Catering Technology from the University of Madras in 2004.
- On 22 December 2010, he set the Guinness World Record for the longest solo cooking marathon by preparing 617 dishes weighing 190 kg in 24 hours, 30 minutes and 12 seconds.
- He was awarded the Padma Shri in 2025 in the field of Others, Culinary for contributions from Tamil Nadu.
- He served as judge on Cooku With Comali on Star Vijay from 2019, fondly called Damu Appa, first with Venkatesh Bhat and later with Madhampatty Rangaraj.
