Chunky Pandey

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very first acting offer for two films from producer Pahlaj Nihalani. He chose Aag Hi Aag to be official Bollywood debut in 1987.

Film debut and rise to prominence (1987-1988) Chunkey Pandey started with the ensemble action flick Aag Hi Aag along with a host of actors like Dharmendra, Shatrunghan Sinha, Vinod Mehra and many more in the lead. The movie saw him coming up with a fine part. The movie which went on to be one of the top grossers of the year 1987 had him making a huge impact which led to a long illustrious career in Bollywood. He followed suit by reaping away honours galore for the Sunny Deol Starrer Paap Ki Duniya co-starring Sunny Deol crime movie, which pretty much made him a sought-after figure among the audience with the highly successful film in 1988. In the same year, Chunky Pandey got a role as ‘ Babban’ in one of the most popular action romantic films, ‘ Tezaab’, with Anil Kapoor and Madhuri Dixit in the leading roles. The film produced and directed by N. Chandra with music by Laxmikant-Pyarelal with the very famous song number, ‘ Ek Do Teen’ saw a chart-buster success and Chunky’s role though small was much noticed by the audience as the film itself ran for over 50 weeks becoming a golden jubilee and one of the biggest blockbuster at the Box Office that year. Pandey however got critically accepted for his portrayal of Anil Kapoor’s friend in the film, through a nomination for Best Supporting Actor at Filmfare and the movie repeated the box office success of his previous two outings and made him a force to reckon with that point of time in mainstream Hindi cinema. Array of successful ensemble flicks with failed solo releases ( 1988-1992) Pandey had back-to-back hits in the initial phase of his career mainly through ensemble flicks which had him playing along with other recognized stars on screen. The trend continued with masala potboiler Khatron Ke Khiladi starring Dharmendra and Sanjay Dutt, Rajesh Khanna’s blockbuster emotional drama Ghar Ka Chirag which had him playing a man who recovers from a fatal accident only to realize his life has changed drastically. He was well-appreciated for his striking performance. His other major releases which panned out to be huge successes and mediocre at that time were Kohram, Rupaye Dus Karod all of which saw him appearing along with the leading stars of Bollywood like Dharmendra, Rajesh Khanna, Jeetendra and many more. Solo Hit outing and other follow-up movies ( 1991-1992) Chunky Pandey after a string of well-accepted side hero roles in many Hindi mainstream productions of the time, finally got his first Individual hit through the comedy flick Parda Hai Parda, which had him pairing opposite Meena in her Hindi debut, Virendra Singh, Rajendra Zutshi. Laxmiknath Berde and others in the lead. The Comedy of Errors movie had him playing one among four happy-go-lucky youngsters who get embroiled in a series of crimes as a result of a lie they use to woo a newly moved-in neighbour girl. The surprise hit movie was the first of a kind for Chunky Pandey as it turned out to be his very first main hero lead hit of his acting career. His next release was the romantic drama film Kasak along with Rishi Kapoor and Neelam Kothari in the lead. Then released the action thrillers which boast of a sparkling star cast consisting of actors like Sunny Deol, Naseeruddin Shah, Amrish Puri and others. His role as a man who has been wronged by an underworld kingpin who sets out to wreak revenge on the wrongdoer after a series of mishaps was also a revelation for the actor in him. The movie too turned out to be a hit. His low-key follow-up releases of the time were Khule-Aam, Apradhi but had a huge groundbreaking hit through David Dhawan’s classic action comedy flick Aankhen along with Govinda in the forefront. The movie also emerged as one of his most successful Multi-starrers. He had yet another huge hit the same year in 1992 with the action movie Lootere sharing the screen with Sunny Deol and Naseeruddin Shah. Career letdown phase ( 1994-1998) After a purple patch phase at the beginning of his career which involved him going on to be part of many well-known critical and commercial hits he could not continue the same in the latter years due to the resurgence of newcomers of the time like Shahrukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar who fitted nicely to romantic and action avatars which used to be Pandey’s forte characters until then forcing a decline in his career graph at that point. His first release during the time was Insaniyat which was followed by underperformers like Bollywood, Teesra Kaun. After a two-year break in the years 1995 and 1996, Pandey returned to Hindi films with other lesser-known outings like Kaun Rokega Mujhe, and Bhoot Bangla in the year 1997. Pandey then started doing lesser projects roughly about one per year in the last three years of the nineties through films like Tirchhi Topiwale, Yeh Hai Mumbai Meri Jaan, and Kasam thus passing through quite uneventful career phase during which time he took a highly successful detour to Bengali cinema in between. List of Bengali productions: Teesra Kaun ( 1994) Swami Keno Asami ( 1997) Meyerao Manush ( 1998) Prem Korechhi Besh Korechhi ( 2004) Last list of Hindi movies (2003- 2016) Qayamat: City Under Threat Mumbai Se Aaya Mera Dost Elaan D Apna Sapna Money Money I See You Om Shanti Om Paying Guest Sankat City Daddy Cool Click De Dana Dan Housefull Tees Maar Khan Ready Housefull 2 Kyaa Super Kool Hain Hum Himmatwala Humshakals Housefull 3