The first time Chunky Panday shared screen space with Anupam Kher was in Tezaab (1988). He won his maiden acting nomination, but eventually lost the trophy to Kher. For their upcoming collaboration, Vijay 69, Kher has assured Panday that the latter will win an award. “That time, Kher saab had won for Vijay [1988], and this time, he believes I will win for Vijay 69,” smiles Panday.

The actor, who plays a Parsi character in the Netflix dramedy, credits Kher for guiding his performance. “When I play a character, I make it over the top and a caricature. He told me to control my performance as it’s not that kind of film.”

In the last few years, Panday has extensively worked in digital entertainment and he confesses that the varied stories on OTT have made him look at himself as a performer in a new light.

“When I entered the industry, I wanted to be a star; acting happened later. The hero, in our time, always had to be the good guy. Kher saab and others got to [play different characters]—good, bad and ugly. Now, I am enjoying playing all these characters.”

Going by his instinct, the senior actor also wanted his daughter Ananya Panday to focus on achieving stardom. But today as she receives acclaim for her performances, be it in CTRL or Call Me Bae, daddy dearest is happy to be proven wrong.

He says, “I used to have fights with her because I felt she should do [mainstream] cinema and she’d say, ‘Dad, I want to be an actor.’ I’d respond saying, ‘You be an actor later, first you become a star.’ Now, I’m realizing that perhaps she was right.”