Poonam Dhillon reveals she wanted to quit acting after Trishul

The veteran actor made her acting debut with Yash Chopra’s Trishul in 1978

Yesteryear actress Poonam Dhillon, who made her acting debut in 1978 with Yash Chopra’s Trishul revealed in a throwback interview that she did not have any plans of becoming a full-fledged Bollywood actress.

The ensemble cast of Trishul features Shashi Kapoor, Sanjeev Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan, Raakhee, Hema Malini, Sachin Pilgaonkar and Waheeda Rehman.

After winning the Femina Miss Indian title in 1977, Poonam caught the attention of filmmaker Yash Chopra who wanted to cast her in his film. In a throwback interview with Lehren, Poonam revealed that she was still in school during the shoot of Trishul and was thrilled to work alongside Amitabh Bachchan and other star-cast, but did not have plans of becoming an actress.

She added that she wanted to just give acting a try once and go back to her studies. Poonam revealed that she joined college after completing the film. But a few months into her studies, she got a call from Yash Chopra, who wanted her to act in another film of his.

“I never did (Trishul) thinking that it was my first film or that I'll make my career in the film industry. I just wanted to do one film. I treated it like an adventure, not as a professional choice. I was a schoolgirl who didn't know anything about films.”

Yash Chopra then signed her for Noorie opposite Farooq Shaikh, which became a hit. She was even nominated for a Filmfare award for Best Actress that year.

The actor's other notable films include Sohni Mahiwal, Teri Kasam, Dard and Yeh Vaada Raha. Poonam was back in the limelight after she participated in the television reality show Bigg Boss Season 3, in which she was the second runner-up.

She was last seen in Netflix’s Plan A Plan B sharing screen space with Tamannaah Bhatia and Riteish Deshmukh.

Share