Who am I? Beauty queen turned actress who once SLAPPED co-star Shah Rukh Khan, worked with Mammootty and Ajith Kumar, quit films in 2006…where is she now?

Who am I? In this feature today, we will try to find out more about an actress who made a sensational debut, delivered hits and starred with A-listers. Yet, after a decent track record at the box office, decided to quit acting and shocked her fans. Who is she and where is she now? Guess her name:

Who is Priya Gill?

Former beauty pageant winner and actress Priya Gill won the Femina Miss India International 1995 and represented India at Miss International 1995. She made her Hindi film debut in Tere Mere Sapne (1996), followed by Sirf Tum (1999). Both the movies gave her name and fame, making her a rising star in late 90s and early 2000s.

Priya Gill’s film career

Priya, in her short movie career, worked in Hindi, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, and Punjabi films. Her big  Bollywood break was in ABCL production’s Tere Mere Sapne (1996) co-starring Arshad Warsi and Chandrachur Singh. Later, she did Sirf Tum (1999) with Sanjay Kapoor and Sushmita Sen, Josh (2000) with Shah Rukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai, and Red (2002) co-starring Ajith Kumar.

She also did Bade Dilwala, Megham (with Mammootty), Rayalaseema Ramanna Chowdary (with Mohan Babu), Jee Aayan Nu (with Harbhajan Mann) and JP Dutta’s LOC Kargil among others. 

Priya’s last movie was her Bhojpuri debut in 2006 titled ‘Piya Tose Naina Lage’ and a Hindi movie named ‘Bhairavi’. 

When Priya Gill slapped SRK

 Priya Gill once revealed her most embarrassing moment in an old interview with Lehren. She said, “I had to slap him, in the song, at the beginning of the song. We were doing this repeated, repeated thing in Goa. And Mansoor kept telling me, ‘Priya, it’s not coming with the kind of force that the girl is mad at him.’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, okay,’ and I kept trying, you know. And Shah Rukh said, ‘You hit me… hit me.’ And Mansoor said, ‘Hit him, hit him,’ you know? I had to punch him. I couldn’t help it. Oh my gosh, I’ll never forget that.”

What happened after that…she added

“I think there was complete silence. Everybody just… the camera kept rolling. I think the director forgot to say cut because of the reaction. I remember KV the cameraman telling me, ‘Girls are going to hate you because you hit Shah Rukh.’ I think he was really sweet about it because after, he was explaining to me how it should be done right, and I didn’t know what to say. After that, the song starts. So imagine how much tension I felt, and how cool he was about the whole thing.”

Priya, in the same old interview went on to reveal that she was a die-hard SRK fan and had been following him since his TV days. She quipped, “I don’t know whether you know, but I’m like a… I won’t just say I’m a die-hard fan, because fans are only related to the acting side. I’ve always liked Shah Rukh. When I was studying, I used to watch him on television. He used to come in the serials, and then he became a huge star. But you know, you never think that one day you’re going to be with this guy. And I was totally in awe of him. And I was like, suppose I do something wrong, and he’s such a huge star, what’s he going to do? What’s he going to say? And you have all these doubts coming in. But he was so sweet to us.”

Where is Priya Gill now?

Well, no much is known about the actress’s whereabouts other than a picture which went viral some time back. In the social media post, Priya was captured, looking as beautiful as ever, flashing her million dollar smile. According to several media reports, Priya Gill is happily married, has moved and is settled in Denmark.