‘Priyanka Chopra looked ordinary’: Suneel Darshan says she got Andaaz after nose surgery | Bollywood News

3 min readKochiJul 29, 2026 04:00 PM In the initial years of his directorial journey, Suneel Darshan mostly cast Karisma Kapoor as the female lead. After their successful collaboration in Ajay (1996), Jaanwar (1999), and Ek Rishtaa (2001), he joined forces with Karisma’s ser Kareena Kapoor in Talaash: The Hunt Begins (2003). However, in his next production venture, Raj Kanwar’s Andaaz (2003), he did not go with Kareena, but rather cast two fairly fresh faces: Priyanka Chopra and Lara Dutta.
While Priyanka, the Miss World 2000, was just two films old at that time, Andaaz marked the acting debut of Lara, the winner of the Miss Intercontinental 1997 and Miss Universe 2000 pageants. However, when Priyanka walked into Suneel Darshan’s office, he wasn’t immediately drawn to her. He also wondered what made her Miss World.
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‘She looked ordinary’: Suneel Darshan on meeting Priyanka Chopra
During a conversation with Hindi Rush, he recalled, “When I cast them, I had access to pretty much all the A-grade actresses in India, such as Karisma Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor, and Aishwarya Rai. But I wanted to do something different that time, and decided to hire two new ladies. Lara had just had a photoshoot with Akshay Kumar for a magazine. So, I asked my team to call her over.”
He continued, “For the second female character, I didn’t want someone who looked similar to the first. One day, Priyanka Chopra came to my office. At first glance, I felt that she appeared ordinary. I interacted with her for a few minutes, wondering, ‘What style did she have that made her Miss World?’ I kept looking at her, and at one point, a realisation hit me.”
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Priyanka Chopra reminded Suneel Darshan of a young Rekha
It struck Suneel Darshan that she reminded him of a young Rekha. “Without makeup, Rekha ji also looked similar. ‘What if she (Priyanka) is Rekha?’ Priyanka spoke Hindi so well and was a very intelligent girl. She had an issue with her nose at that time, which she later fixed (through surgery),” he added.Story continues below this ad
Suneel Darshan revealed that Andaaz was made in a short span and released in just nine months since the day it went on floors. He further observed that this was the movie that earned Priyanka recognition in Bollywood after her debut film — Anil Sharma’s The Hero: Love Story of a Spy (2003), in which she played a supporting role — didn’t garner much recognition.
He further recalled that Priyanka was quite different from other female actors he had worked with. “Priyanka knew who to keep happy and how to behave towards whom,” he added.
Priyanka Chopra was most recently seen in director Frank E Flowers’ The Bluff (2026). She is currently working on SS Rajamouli’s Mahesh Babu-led Varanasi. She also has Mira Nair’s Amri and Nicholas Stoller’s Judgment Day in the pipeline.