The first time Dhillon gained fame was when she got crowned Miss Young India 1978. Director
Yash Chopra noticed her and offered her a role in the film
Trishul (1978) where her song "Gapoochi Gapoochi Gum Gum" with
Sachin Pilgaonkar became popular. Chopra then gave her the title role in
Noorie (1979) opposite
Farooq Shaikh, which he produced. The low budget film
Noorie shot in Bhaderwah, Kashmir, became a superhit and was a phenomenal success at the box office, partly also for
Khayyam's music. For this film, Poonam was nominated for the
Filmfare Award for Best Actress. Subsequently, she went on to act in around 90 films in Hindi, including
Sohni Mahiwal,
Red Rose,
Teri Kasam,
Dard,
Nishana,
Yeh Vaada Raha,
Samunder,
Romance,
Kasam, and
Sitamgar. She was paired with
Rajesh Khanna in six films:
Dard,
Nishaan,
Zamana,
Awam,
Red Rose (1980 film) and
Jai Shiv Shankar. She made a special appearance in
Judaai as a favour to producer
Boney Kapoor when
Juhi Chawla had to drop out. She also appeared in regional films such as
Nyay Danda (
Bengali),
Yuddha Kaanda (
Kannada),
Ishtam (
Telugu) and
Yavarum Nalam (
Tamil),
13B: Fear Has a New Address (
Hindi). Dhillon was a contestant on Season 3 of
Bigg Boss aired on
Colors TV in 2009. She ended up as the second runner-up on the show. Her big comeback on Indian television in a lead role was with the serial
Ekk Nayi Pehchaan on
Sony TV in 2013 where she played the uneducated yet ideal wife of a rich businessman. She has been in the
Hindi theater production
The Perfect Husband, which won the best comedy play award in 2005 and which completed a
Golden jubilee run. She then did another play
The Perfect Wife co-starring Sooraj Thapar and
Pyaar Mein Kabhi Kabhi with
Asif Sheikh. She was also seen in a play called
U Turn which is the Hindi version of a Marathi play. Dhillon ventured into the make-up van business in 1991 pioneering the concept in the Indian film industry. She runs a make-up van company called "Vanity." == Personal life ==