When Anupam Kher ran into his former student and actress Deepika Padukone at Dubai airport, he was a proud teacher. Anupam expressed his delight at Deepika’s success since she began studying acting at his academy. On Tuesday, he posted photos from the meeting to his Instagram account.

Deepika kept her hands on his shoulder and posed with him in the photographs. Anupam also shared a selfie that Deepika took. “Happy to meet talented Ms. @deepikapadukone at Dubai airport!” he captioned the photos. Her success graph makes me doubly happy and proud because she is an alumni of @actorprepares! “All hail!” Fans were ecstatic to see them together, with one remarking, “Two of my favourites in one place.”

Deepika Padukone, who made her acting debut alongside Shah Rukh Khan in the 2007 film Om Shanti Om, studied acting for three months at Anupam Kher’s film academy Actor Prepares. Later, she collaborated with Anupam on the 2011 film Desi Boyz, in which he portrayed her father.

Anupam previously admitted to making Deepika cry during one of his classes. “She was good at everything, punctual, and would do things with finesse,” he told HT in 2019. She appeared to want to do everything perfectly. My point is that acting isn’t just about perfection; it’s also about the flaws. I gave her an improvisation exercise one day to break her composure as a perfectionist. ‘You work as a bai (maid) in a house, there is no such thing as ‘perfection’ (about her),’ I told her. Her mannerisms were impeccable, but her character wouldn’t know how to use a fork or knife. That went on for 45 minutes… until I felt she’d figured it out (new things).

Shakun Batra’s Gehraiyaan was Deepika’s most recent film. She will next be seen alongside Shah Rukh Khan and John Abraham in Pathaan. Nag Ashwin’s Project K, in which she stars alongside Amitabh Bachchan, Prabhas, and Disha Patani, is also in the works. The actor will also star alongside Hrithik Roshan and Anil Kapoor in the film Fighter.

Anupam was last seen in Vivek Agnihotri’s The Kashmir Files, a film about the 1990s exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the Kashmir Valley. He’ll next be seen in Uunchai, directed by Sooraj Barjatya and starring Amitabh Bachchan, Parineeti Chopra, Danny Denzongpa, and Boman Irani.