Veteran actress Poonam Dhillon and son Anmol Thakeria Dhillon came together for an interview for the first time on the occasion of Mother’s Day. In an exclusive interview with PeepingMoon.com the mother-son duo take us through their journey as star parent-kid and how celeb parents’ name is more of a demerit for aspiring actors in today’s time. Poonam also spoke about how she has no regrets of leaving her career at the top to focus on her kids while Anmol makes a conscious effort to not piggy-back on his mother's name and together the two take us through their tryst with film industry and a story they would like to be a part of as mother-son, onscreen!
Talking about how established names might prove detrimental today in Bollywood, Poonam said, “Parents’ name is more of a demerit than merit today; it's held against the poor kids for no fault of theirs. It's also not fair because every child has a right to follow his dream and footsteps. I will definitely say he groomed himself. He was a scrawny, timid kid; he really worked hard on himself. I have seen him work on himself with acting and dancing classes. He wasn't complacent that he was a privileged child. Rather he always chided me to not tell anyone about his parents. Both my kids are very level-headed and grounded and have never done anything that I would disapprove of.”
On the other hand Anmol spoke about how he told his parents about his dream of becoming an actor and bagging his first project Tuesdays and Fridays under Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s production banner on his own merit. Talking about how he told Poonam and his dad about his debut, he said, “I was always a shy, quiet kid so it was a kind of surprise for my parents especially my mom when I told them that I want to be an actor. But they were always supportive and told me that this is not going to be an easy road and I will have to work extremely hard but fortunately she is very proud that I got the film on my own merit. She was pleasantly surprised when I told her that I’ve met Mr Sanjay Leela Bhansali and auditioned for his film. It feels surreal to have worked with him.”
Poonam, like a proud mama shared her experience of seeing Anmol on the big screen for the first time and said, “I don’t remember seeing my first film or being nervous because I was really very young and I had no clue what it involved, but now seeing Anmol for the first time was a very emotional experience because now I know what the career is all about and seeing your own child there and I hadn’t seen anything of the film until then so like seeing him in the complete film I was extremely emotional and teary-eyed. My heart was pounding and I was sitting with my phone recording when his name came on the screen. So it is very emotional when your child does anything, film is just one thing but anything that a child does becomes special for any parent. So his debut film is extremely special for me and I am actually very proud of him because when I saw him I didn’t know what to expect and he was really not only good but better than what I expected him to be.”
(Transcribed By: Vandana Srivastawa)