Lara Dutta says Akshay Kumar never took advantage of Priyanka Chopra and her: 'He saw two young girls with stars in their eyes..'

Priyanka Chopra and Lara Dutta both rose to fame after winning international beauty pageants in 2000, and they made their way to the movies. The two actors started their careers together in the Akshay Kumar-starrer 'Andaaz', which marked the beginning of their journey as promising newcomers in the industry. Though, Priyanka's film with Sunny Deol, 'The Hero: Love Story Of A Spy' came first, marking her debut. In a recent interview, Lara has opened up on those early days and credited Akshay for being a strong support system. She shared that she felt extremely lucky to have him as his first co-star and described him as a friend, philosopher, guide. She said in an interview with atncanada's Youtube channel, “Of course I had Akshay Kumar, today who I consider a friend, philosopher, guide in the business. Just to have that environment around you where you felt protected and not exploited in any which way and people who kind of looked out for you. Even Akshay has always been extremely protective." Speaking about how Akshay guided both her and Priyanka, Lara shared, “Both Priyanka and I were coming in right at the same time. He saw two young girls coming in with stars in their eyes and zero guidance and direction. And he never took advantage of that. Today, I think he is such an incredibly street-smart person. He knows the business like the back of his hand, he knows what works. So, in that sense, I had a really strong springboard to take off from.”Meanwhile, Andaaz producer Suneel Darshan had earlier hinted at a reported relationship between Akshay and Priyanka following the film. At the time, Akshay was married to Twinkle Khanna, and Darshan claimed that this situation led to complications on another project.Recalling the situation in an earlier interview with Bollywood Hungama, he said he had to replace Akshay in Barsaat despite already filming a song. He explained, “I had also got to know of the other issues that had come up between him and his wife. She had issues with Priyanka, I was told… I feel the profession has its own hazards. Sometimes, the proximity, sometimes the individual’s own lifestyles, all these things come in the way and the media blows it out of proportion, without realising how much loss a filmmaker could suffer because of…”Today, Priyanka Chopra is married to Nick Jonas, and the couple are parents to their daughter Malti Marie. Akshay and Twinkle, on the other hand, have been happily married for over 25 years.