A donkey named Chunky has given actor Chunky Panday, 64, a reason to laugh after fetching ₹72,000 at the annual donkey fair in Chitrakoot, Madhya Pradesh. Traders also named donkeys after Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan and Mithun Chakraborty to attract buyers, but Chunky reportedly fetched the highest price, leaving the actor amused.
The most expensive donkey at the Chitrakoot fair has been named after actor Chunky Panday.
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"This is such an honor that people did this. My friends have been sending the news clipping to me, and any news is good news!" he laughs as he speaks to HT City. Taking the unusual tribute in his stride, the actor adds, "I have been seeing this happen for 30 years now. In fact, it is done in barber shops as well, where stars and their hairstyles are advertised. There's even a burger named Chunky Paneer Panday at a burger joint."
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Chunky has been in the movie business for over four decades now, having begun his acting career in 1987 with the Hindi film Aag Hi Aag. He was last seen in the film Baby Do Die Do this year.
Rishabh Suri is an Assistant Editor, film critic, and professional overthinker of plot points. He writes for HT City, keeping pace with an industry where news cycles expire long before the popcorn gets cold. He completed his graduation in English Honours from Kirori Mal College, followed by a Master’s degree in English Literature-effectively training his brain to over-analyse classic texts before applying those exact same skills to 3-hour Bollywood blockbusters. He got into the profession when he had barely graduated from college and has been at HT ever since. At HT, Rishabh reviews films with a simple rule: skip the dense academic jargon and get straight to the point. Beyond reviews, as Assistant Editor, he helps navigate the broader circus of showbiz, tracking everything from OTT shifts to sudden box office panics. In a beat driven by loud PR machinery and carefully scripted answers, Rishabh prefers cutting through the noise to focus on how stories get made and why trends shift. When he isn’t writing against a deadline, he is usually sitting in a dark theater, compulsively memorising dialogues. For Rishabh, analysing movies isn't just a day job- it’s a habit he couldn't turn off even if he tried.
