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Chunky Panday and Govinda began their Bollywood journeys around the same time. While Govinda made his debut in 1986, Chunky entered the industry a year later and both were launched by Pahlaj Nihalani. It was in 1993 that the two finally came together for Aankhen, which went on to become one of the highest grossing films of that year. The film was also produced by Nihalani, who, as Chunky revealed, played a major role in changing his life when he was struggling to find work.
Appearing recently on Kajol and Twinkle Khanna’s Prime Video talk show Two Much, Chunky shared that he owed his film career to Govinda. “I struggled for about five years before I made my debut,” Chunky said. “If I am a part of this industry today, it’s because of Govinda.”
Govinda quickly quipped, “I left a film and he got it.” Chunky laughed, “Yes, that’s true.”
A surprised Kajol interjected, “Really? Wasn’t that a joke?” Chunky clarified, “No, I’m not joking. I was struggling for four years — no ads, no serials. One day, I bumped into Pahlaj Nihalani in a bathroom. I was there, struggling with my drawstring when he entered and helped me. I asked, ‘Sir, who are you?’ and he said, ‘I’m Pahlaj Nihalani, the producer.’ I couldn’t believe it — he had just launched Govinda! I told him, ‘Sir, I’m Chunky Panday,’ and he said I had a weird name. I agreed, but also told him I wanted to work in films. He asked me to come to his office, and the next day, I had a film in my hand — the one Govinda couldn’t do because he was too busy.”
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The conversation took another hilarious turn when Chunky confessed, “Once, when one of Govinda’s films was about to become a hit, I bought all his tickets in black and sold them at half price — just so the box office numbers would drop!” Twinkle laughed, “Only Chunky can do that.”
She went on to share another anecdote about him: “Once, Bhavana told Chunky she wanted a 65-inch TV. He got one, they installed it — but when she looked for the remote, there was none. He said, ‘Bhavs, there’s no remote!’ There was no sound either, so he added speakers. Turns out, he had bought an airport display monitor — the kind that shows flight schedules — because it was cheaper!”
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Twinkle also recalled how Chunky was one of the earliest actors to have sponsored New Year parties.
Chunky added, “Forget New Year — even my birthday parties were sponsored.” Giving example of one of them, sponsored by an underwear brand, Chunky revealed, “At one of them, I was dressed only in underwear. The cake was also shaped like underwear, and no one wanted to eat it!”
