Bhavana Pandey reveals Chunky was at ‘lowest phase’ career-wise when they married, says he wasn’t getting work in Bollywood

Bhavana Pandey said that when she married Chunky Panday in 1998, he was going through his ‘lowest phase’ professionally. However, she credited him for never letting her feel any of it.  

Chunky, who made a successful debut opposite Neelam Kothari Soni with Aag Hi Aag in 1987, witnessed a career slump a few years later. With work in Bollywood drying up, he shifted focus to the film industry in Bangladesh in 1995, and became a popular star there. In the early 2000s, he returned to Bollywood in supporting roles.

In an interview with Bollywood Hungama, Bhavana said, “When I met Chunky and got married to him, he was at the lowest phase of his career. We met in 1996 and got married in 1998. That is the time he left for Bangladesh. He stopped doing Bollywood films because he wasn’t getting work. Imagine, I am dating a man who is so positive… That is the reason I married him, because those two years, even though he was going through his lowest, I never felt that. He was always laughing, joking, being a really nice person. He never let me feel it even when we were dating. And then, when we got married, he continued the same thing.”

Bhavana and Chunky featured in the recently-released Netflix reality show Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives, in which he talked about his insecurities. He admitted to not attending the Filmfare Awards ceremony in Guwahati last year because he was worried he might jinx things for their daughter Ananya Panday, who won the award for Best Female Debut.

Talking about that conversation, Bhavana said, “He actually told me that he is not coming to Assam because he had work. That scene is so genuine because he actually told me that he did not come because he felt he would jinx the award. My heart went out to him because he is not a superstitious person at all. I am the superstitious one, who thinks about jinxes, nazar and all that. He does not believe in it. For him to say that, it was truly a father speaking.”

Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives, which also features Neelam, Seema Khan and Maheep Kapoor, quickly became a hot favourite with viewers. Gauri Khan hinted in an Instagram post that the series may be up for a sequel.