Chunky Panday, son of doctors, entered Bollywood with Shatrughan Sinha’s advice on punctuality and memorization. He admired Dharmendra’s body language and worked with Amitabh in Insaniyat.
Chunky Panday talks about a piece of advice he always followed.
Chunky Panday, despite having no film connections — being the son of two medical professionals — managed to make his mark in Bollywood. But his journey wasn’t a cakewalk, and he recently shared a fascinating nugget of advice he received from none other than veteran star Shatrughan Sinha about the importance of ‘punctuality’ in the industry. He also opened up about the impact Dharmendra had on his career.
Sharing an old-school trick from Shatrughan Sinha, he recalled during a chat with Radio Nasha Official, “Shatru ji told me something very nice, which I follow to date. He said, ‘Son, whatever you do, never arrive on time anywhere. If you are punctual, no one will value you. Even if you happen to be early somehow, stay in the car for 15 minutes or so. Make people wait.’ That was the old-school method — people eagerly waiting for a star. Once the star arrives, what’s the point.”
Having made his debut in Aag Hi Aag (1987) alongside Dharmendra, Moushumi Chatterjee, and Shatrughan Sinha, Chunky shared that Sinha also taught him how to memorise dialogues with ease. “Even if he had 10 pages of dialogues, Shatru ji would go straight for takes without rehearsing, after reading them just once,” he said.
As for Dharmendra, Chunky was in awe of his dashing looks and picked up key lessons on body language from the veteran actor.
Talking about his dream-like experience of working with Amitabh Bachchan in Insaniyat (1994), Chunky painted a vivid picture of the megastar’s grand arrival on set. “When Amit ji arrived on set on the first day of shoot in Film City, people went crazy. Although we were very nervous, he made us feel so comfortable by cracking jokes. There was so much energy and enthusiasm in him. It was after a long time that people were seeing him. I even forgot my lines while working with him,” he confessed.
