She may only be 35, but Tamannaah Bhatia has already been in the film industry for 20 years. Having worked in some of the biggest blockbusters in the south as well as acclaimed films in Hindi, Tamannaah has now found success on streaming as well. Recently, at the trailer launch of her upcoming series, the actor got nostalgic and revealed how she is finally getting a chance to share screen space with her first acting teacher.

Tamannaah Bhatia on her first acting teacher

Tamannaah will be next seen in Amazon Prime Video‘s Do You Wanna Partner, which also stars Diana Penty in the lead. The show also features some veteran actors from film and TV in the ensemble, including Neeraj Kabi. At the trailer launch in Mumbai, Tamannaah revealed that Neeraj was her first acting teacher.

“Neeraj Kabi ji is my first acting teacher. I got a chance to share the screen with him here. I swear to God, my whole life was flashing before me. I was just a 13-year-old girl who wanted to learn acting. Neeraj sir used to teach us without any payment. All of us were kids. He supported us. All 13 kids from that group are now part of the film fraternity. He mentored us as kids, so just sharing the screen with him was just so emotional,” the actor said on stage.

Neeraj Kabi, a veteran of shows like Sacred Games and Paatal Lok, as well as films such as Talvar, Sita Ramam, and Sam Bahadur, was also present at the event. Responding to Tamannaah’s praise, an emotional Neeraj recalled, “In those days, when she was doing the workshop, this 13-year-old girl didn’t laugh a lot. She took everything she did seriously, and she retains that quality to this day. She takes every moment of her work like it is the last thing she is going to do. She works with that intensity. It’s a beautiful moment for me to look at this little girl who came at 13, and today she has grown up to be a wonderful person who admires her craft.”

About Do You Wanna Partner

Do You Wanna Partner stars Tamannaah and Diana as two women who leave their white collar jobs to begin a beer startup, only to end up being surrounded by shady people. The show also stars Jaaved Jaaferi, Nakuul Mehta, Shweta Tiwari, Neeraj Kabi, Sufi Motiwala, and Rannvijay Singha. Produced by Dharmatic Entertainment, with Karan Johar, Adar Poonawalla, and Apoorva Mehta backing the project, the show is written by Nandini Gupta, Aarsh Vora and Mithun Gangopadhyay. It will premiere on Prime Video on September 12.