Did you know Chunky Panday was Akshay Kumar's acting instructor years ago?: 'That's why he didn't get work initially'

Chunky Panday revealed that for a brief period, he gave the then up-and-coming actor Akshay Kumar acting lessons. He said that Akshay now jokes that this is why he didn't win any awards for several years at the start of his career.

Chunky Panday told the story in an appearance on comedian-actor Cyrus Broacha's show on YouTube.

He said, "He really makes me laugh about it. I graduated from a school called Madhumati's Dancing School. So when I was graduating... Akshay's much younger than me, four-five years younger than me. Akshay was just joining the school. You know how it is, when you just join, the teachers don't teach you, the senior students teach you. So I used to teach him some dance moves, and some dialogue delivery."

He continued, "He still laughs and jokes about it. That's why he says in the initial part of his career he didn't get too much work or awards, because of the acting I taught him. He had to undo what I taught him and become a better actor, and that's why he's become Akshay Kumar."

Chunky admitted that even then, he was sure that Akshay would become a superstar. He said, "Akshay is eye-candy; he's a beautiful-looking guy. He was fit then, and he's still fit. He's got a great attitude."

Chunky and Akshay have worked together in the Housefull series and Tees Maar Khan. At a press event for Housefull 3 in 2016, Akshay had said, "The place where Chunky Pandey sahab used to learn acting, he used to be my senior there. When I used to go there as a junior, we used to look up to him and we used to wait for the moment when he would come. His film Aag Hi Aag (1987) had released, which was a super duper hit. I used to be a huge fan of Chunky Panday."