Director Guddu Dhanoa revealed when he was shooting in Hyderabad in 2002-2003, Priyanka Chopra would request them to explain how to enact a scene as she didn’t know much about acting.

Director Guddu Dhanoa talks about working with Priyanka Chopra in her earlier films. (Photo: Priyanka Chopra/Instagram)

Before becoming one of the top stars of the country and much before she became a global name, Priyanka Chopra started slow and perhaps against all odds. Director Guddu Dhanoa, who directed her in Big Brother and Kismat, said the former was supposed to be Priyanka’s first film and starred Sunny Deol, who was also the producer.

The director recalled how the team was shooting in Hyderabad in 2002-2003, Priyanka would request them to explain how to enact a scene as she didn’t know much about acting. “She would say, ‘Please explain to me, how do I do it.’ It means she has a hunger to learn, she had it at that time, she wanted to do it, wanted to do it very well, and her looks were also good,” he said in an interview with Bollywood Hungama.

After a “very good” long schedule, Dhanoa said he started to hear negative things about Priyanka from Mumbai. “After we shot for 15-20 days and we started getting reports from Mumbai that she looks very bad, she is a very bad actor, please watch the rushes. So, I said okay, we will watch the rushes.’”

Though discouraging comments around Priyanka started flooding, the director recalled how actor producer Sunny Deol stood rock solid behind Priyanka, showcasing his confidence in her.

“We saw the rushes, whatever we had shot there, however much we had shot, and after watching the rushes, Sunny Deol and I, both of us decided that we will work with this girl and complete the film with this girl only. And I think we liked her; I mean we liked her screen presence, and we liked her as an actor too. We thought she will grow, and we were right. She later grew a lot as a person and actor.”

Guddu Dhanoa, who is movie star Dharmendra’s cousin, revealed he was touched when the actor invited him for her reception in Mumbai. “Today she improved as an actor… She grew very quickly, she is fantastic.”

Priyanka Chopra married popstar Nick Jonas in 2018. The couple, who lives in LA, has a daughter Malti Marie.