SPUNKY, SASSY & SHARP: Ananya Panday on Bombay Times Lounge

Next on Bombay Times Lounge, we have Ananya Panday, the actress who reigns the Gen-Z glam brigade with rizz and charm. She’s the girl who’s not afraid to keep it real — onscreen, on the ‘gram, or in interviews. She adds a dash of fun and spark to everything she does, and there’s no mistaking she’s carved her spot in tinsel town, and she’s owning it with style. During our chat, she had the audience charmed and hooked from the word go. Here’s a quick glimpse of what’s coming up soon on the full episode, which will drop on the Bombay Times YouTube Channel.

Dreams, Doubts & Honest Confessions
Ananya, who has won love and admiration for her recent roles in Kho Gaye Hum Kahan, Kesari 2 and the web series Call Me Bae, admits that in the beginning, her perspective of cinema, was in a way limited, and her priorities different. “I always wanted to be an actress. I don’t know if other people believed me or thought whether I could be one. When I started out, the kind of cinema that I had watched until then was very different. I was, and I still am a full-on Bollywood bachcha. Earlier, I only knew there’s one way of acting and one kind of movie. My vision was very microscopic and when I started acting, I was just happy that I was on the big screen. I was singing, dancing and doing all those things that I’ve seen growing up. But with more films and more roles, now I’ve fallen in love with the craft of acting,” she says.

Ananya Panday

Digging Deep – The Gehraiyaan effect
“Now, I enjoy going deeper a lot more. I want to challenge myself. People keep differentiating between commercial cinema and offbeat cinema. I think both are equally tough. People tell me, “Oh, you have done a film like Kesari 2, it must have been so challenging,” says Ananya. She adds, “Even commercial cinema with all the singing, lip-syncing, dancing, and the look of being in love with those glossy eyes – all of that is also a form of acting. It requires as much effort, if not more. It took me time to get comfortable in my space. In my first few films, I was very nervous. I would just do whatever the director asked me to. Gehraiyaan, changed that, it was like a turning point.”

Bae and Her BestiesIt’s no secret that Ananya is part of B-Town’s coolest girl gang — with Suhana Khan, Shanaya Kapoor and Navya Naveli Nanda. Her face lights up as she talks about her besties – their bond and shared dreams. She recalls, “We’ve been acting in our own way since we were kids. We would play this game called Ad-Ad where one person would be the judge, and the rest of us had to create an ad for a product and present it to the judge. We played this for years. We would spy on our moms and see what they’re doing at their tea party and then come back and imitate them. When I look at some of those videos now, I am like…what were we doing? We all shared our dreams.” Seeing her friends chase their paths fills her with pride. “It felt surreal seeing Suhana in Archies, Shanaya is soon going to make her debut. It’s admirable how Navya has turned an entrepreneur and has chosen her own path.”


Ananya’s love language
I am a romantic at heart and I love everything about love. I believe in 90s kind of love, not the running away from home and all that, but more like pyaar dosti hai and that one person is your everything. I’m quite a hopeless romantic!

Ananya’s Ideal Man“I was going to say good looks, good looks, good looks! (laughs). On a serious note, I’d say someone who is very funny. I need to be laughing all the time because my dad (Chunky Panday) has always made me laugh. Someone who can be a friend and a great companion above everything else, because I believe pyaar dosti hai, however, cliche it sounds. And a man who treats everyone equally and with respect. Good looks can come in fourth! (laughs)”
Watch out for the Bombay Times Lounge episode with Ananya Panday, where she gets real, reflects deeply and reminds us that Gen-Z has as much soul as spark. The interview will drop on the Bombay Times YouTube channel soon.




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