Director Anil Sharma recently revealed in an interview that Priyanka Chopra was set to quit films after her nose surgery went wrong but it was he who stopped her from doing so. Anil said that he helped her get her career back on track after this. The actor worked with Anil in the Sunny Deol-Preity Zinta starrer The Hero: Love Story of a Spy.

During a conversation with Siddharth Kannan on YouTube, Anil said, “I read somewhere that she did the operation to look like Julia Roberts so I scolded her also. Then I got to know the truth that this wasn’t the case. She had an issue with her nose; it was a medical operation that went bad so it wasn’t her fault.”

Due to the surgery, Priyanka lost out on some projects and she was returning back all the token money that she had taken from producers. She had decided to leave the city but Anil claims to have stopped her. “At that time, I had already given her a token of Rs 5 lakh. She came with the cheque. She said I have been fired and now I am moving back to Bareilly. They said they were waiting to give my money back. I said you keep the money and I scolded her a bit. She then told me what actually happened with her nose,” he said.

He added, “She said my father is already back in Bareilly and has rejoined his duty in the army. Her mother said she will also resume her practice. They thought it would take some time for Priyanka to heal so they will come back after a year or so. They were paying so much rent here and they were regular people, not like Ambanis. I told them to stop.”

Anil’s latest film, Vanvaas, released in theatres on December 20 and stars Nana Patekar and Utkarsh Sharma in pivotal roles.