Director Anil Sharma revealed that he helped actress Priyanka Chopra when she was about to leave Mumbai and added that the actress had been rejected by many filmmakers after her botched nose surgery. After the surgery went wrong, she was removed from several projects, and Anil did not give up on her.
In a recent interview with Siddharth Kannan on his YouTube channel, the ‘Gadar’ director stated that he had read somewhere that PeeCee had undergone the surgery to look like Julia Roberts and scolded her for it. However, he later learned that she had an issue with her nose. “It was a medical operation that went wrong, so it wasn’t her fault,” he said.
Anil recalled the difficult period Priyanka faced after her surgery, which led to her being fired from multiple projects. The ‘Citadel’ actress had planned to return the money she had received and leave Mumbai for Bareilly to recover. However, Anil intervened, recognising her potential. He shared that he had already given her a token amount of Rs 5 lakh, and when she came to return the money, he scolded her before learning about the real reason behind her nose surgery.
The filmmaker further recalled that PeeCee’s family had planned to return to Bareilly, as her father had rejoined the army and her mother was resuming her practice. They thought Priyanka would take some time to heal and had planned to return after a year. However, Anil urged them to reconsider. “They were paying so much rent here, and they were regular people, not like the Ambanis. I told them to stop,” he added.
Sharma shared that he sought the expertise of a veteran makeup artist from YRF to help improve Priyanka’s nose. After the corrections, they collaborated with designer Neeta Lulla on her costumes and performed a screen test. Sharma sent the footage, which prompted others to ask, “Who is this girl?”. He stated, “It was her luck. Her nose operation going wrong wasn’t her fault, and if we can correct it, why shouldn’t we?”
Priyanka and Anil collaborated on ‘The Hero – Love Story of a Spy’, starring Sunny Deol and Preity Zinta.
