Chunky Panday recalls marrying Bhavana during the ‘lowest phase’ of his career: ‘I feel even Ananya was conceived in Bangladesh’

Chunky Panday was a rising star in Bollywood in the late 1980s but he found himself sliding on the star scale when the likes of Aamir Khan and Salman Khan made their debut in the movies. There was a time when Chunky was delivering one hit after another, but soon found himself out of work. Chunky found his groove again in the early 1990s with films like Vishwatama and Aankhen but that didn’t last long and so he headed to Bangladesh. In a recent interview, Chunky spoke about this phase of his life and shared that he took his wife Bhavana for a mini-honeymoon to Bangladesh and his daughter Ananya Panday was probably conceived there.

In a chat with Brut, Chunky shared, “After giving all these big hits, I suddenly found myself without work. I was doing multiple hero films but that didn’t frustrate me. I was confused what has happened here so I decided to go and work in Bangladesh and I had a good run there for five years.” Chunky shared that it was during his film career in Bangladesh that he got married to Bhavana in 1998. “In fact, I took Bhavana for half a honeymoon to Bangladesh because I had to complete a film at that time, and I feel even Ananya was conceived in Bangladesh,” he said with a laugh.

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Chunky said that he came back to Mumbai to work after Bhavana reminded him that his identity as a Bollywood hero can only be maintained if he works in Bollywood and so, Chunky said that he “went from office to office searching for work.” It was during this time that his daughters were young and he was starting to find himself as a parent. “When my daughters came into my life, it was almost like I was starting my career again. I married Bhavana at the lowest phase of my career,” he said.

Chunky was recently seen in Vijay 69 with Anupam Kher.