Ananya Panday in conversation with THE WEEK chief associate editor and director Riyad Mathew and senior journalist Namrata Zakaria | Amey Mansabdar
(From right) Ananya Panday’s grandparents Kewal and Chitra Khosla and mother Bhavana Panday with Tanuj Garg, film producer and partner, Ellipsis Entertainment | Amey Mansabdar
Ananya Panday with Prajin Varghese K.V., regional head (Mumbai), South Indian Bank | Amey Mansabdar
Ananya Panday with Vaibhav Maloo, managing director, Enso Group | Amey Mansabdar
Fashion designers Sandeep Khosla and Raghavendra Rathore | Amey Mansabdar
(From left) Preeta Sukhtankar, founder, The Label Life, Mini Manak, regional retail perfromance manager, APAC Gucci, Anurag Tyagi, country manager, Christian Dior Couture, and Riyad Mathew | Amey Mansabdar
Ananya Panday with Deepa Harris, founder, Brandswelove, and Colvyn Harris, former CEO, JWT South Asia, and founder, Harris-Mint | Amey Mansabdar
Interview/ Ananya Panday, actor
ACTOR ANANYA PANDAY was the guest of honour at THE WEEK’s first-ever Salon, an exclusive, closed-door event that invites thought leaders, artistes, ideators and newsmakers to have an intimate and intelligent chat with our senior editors. In the audience were some of our special guests, longtime subscribers and persons of interest. The first Salon was co-hosted by THE WEEK’s chief associate editor and director Riyad Mathew and senior journalist Namrata Zakaria.
This edition of Salon took place at the stylish Four Seasons hotel, Mumbai, and was sponsored by South Indian Bank, with Enso Group as special partners.
Ananya Panday is a talented young actor with much critical acclaim to her credit. Some of her upcoming work is a series on Amazon Prime called Call Me Bae, and films such as Vikramaditya Motwane’s Control and Shankara, opposite Akshay Kumar. She endorses as many as 22 leading brands.
Panday delighted the audience with her candour, warmth and repartee. Excerpts from the interview:
Aditya Patil, CEO, Ascend International School | Amey Mansabdar
Q/ Congratulations on Kho Gaye Hum Kahan. Such a lovely, lovely film. And such a nuanced role for you, followed by so much praise and acclaim. Do you feel you have finally landed as an actor?
A/ Honestly, I feel like everything happens at the right time. And I feel like I wouldn’t be the person or the actor that I am today if it wasn’t for everything that happened to me before that. So, I am obviously very, very grateful for all of the love that I got in the film. My favourite kind of movies are the ones where I feel seen and understood. Like when I was younger, I used to feel like Poo and Geet; they were like my spirit animals. I wanted to be as confident as them. So, if I can do anything that touches the life of a young boy or a young girl, then that’s like the job done for me. And I got so many messages from people after that film saying they feel represented. So that’s my biggest win more than anything. And yeah, I feel like people see me in a different way, which is always good.
Q/ Is Ahana, your character in the film, close to who you are as a person? I mean, you pretty much live a fishbowl existence.
A/ Everyone has been Ahana at some point in their life. For sure, I feel the pressure. Especially when I started out, I didn’t understand why everything that I was saying was like going completely the opposite. I don’t think before speaking, everything just comes out of my mouth. My mom said to me, ‘Count till 10 before you say anything.’ But now I am like, I don’t care anymore. When I was a little girl, this is all I wanted to do. I wanted to be on a big screen and I wanted everyone to recognise me everywhere I went. Sometimes, I just wish I could do this one thing where no one was taking my photo. But my dad always says, ‘The moment someone doesn’t ask you for a picture will be your saddest day. So, just enjoy every single picture.’ I think my dad is my biggest inspiration in that way because I have seen him get up from meals, go out of his way to interact with his fans and give people so much love. I want to be able to be that as well.
Craft revivalist Ratna Krishnakumar | Amey Mansabdar
Q/ Do you think you missed out on a college education abroad?
A/ I don’t think I missed out on it. I think for me and the field that I have chosen to be in, the best education I could have gotten was to physically be on a film set. I have been very fortunate to start out with someone like Karan Johar, whom I learned everything from. I got to work with Shakun Batra, Zoya Akhtar and now Vikramaditya Motwane. I am in the best film school possible.
Q/ Your father, Chunky Panday, was such a big superstar. A whole generation of women was in love with him until Shah Rukh, Salman and Aamir came along. It really took the three Khans to dismantle Chunky’s popularity. What lessons have you learnt from him? And from your mum―the businesswoman and reality star Bhavana Panday?
A/ I inherited the thick skin from my dad, just taking everything with a smile. He is all heart. And he always cracks the joke on himself first. He is like, every Friday is like a cricket match, you either hit a six or you are gonna get out. But there will be another ball after that. He never gives up. He has done films in regional languages, in Bangladesh. He jumped onto the OTT wagon before anyone else did. He has done negative roles, comedy roles, lead roles, smaller roles. But he hasn’t stopped working. And somehow he knows everyone in every corner of the world. From my mum, I get my normalcy, just my balance. She is like a moral compass. She inspires me to be very kind every single day.
Tej Chawda, associate partner, Incred Wealth, and Jigna Chawda | Amey Mansabdar
Q/ What do you feel about Indian designers versus western designers? Does Indian fashion hold up in the west?
A/ Sandeep Khosla is in the audience, and I have had the most fun walking for Abu Jani-Sandeep Khosla. But whenever I travel I see people give respect to Indian fashion and style. I am only inspired by Bollywood. When Zendaya did that Rahul Mishra sari, she looked really hot in it. Every time Naomi Campbell wears an Indian designer, she looks super hot, too. Fashion houses there realise how big the market is. They need us, I think, a lot more than we do.
Q/ You really held your own against Deepika Padukone in Gehraiyaan, despite a smaller role.
A/ Every time you see Deepika, you are just stunned by her beauty. But I learned so much from her, like hard work and commitment. She came for every single workshop, like a student with her notebook. I learnt to prioritise oneself on a film set, to ask for those 30 seconds before a take to just have silence. She is an inspirational female superstar. I have been very lucky to work with very giving co-stars―Bhumi Pednekar, Kartik Aaryan, Tiger Shroff, Tara Sutaria, Ishaan Khattar, Adarsh Gourav.
Chetan Arora, restaurateur, iHop, KrispyKreme, Bono | Amey Mansabdar
Q/ Your first film came out when you were 20. It is far too young for someone to have that sort of fame and success. What prepared you?
A/ I knew I wanted to be an actor the moment I popped out of my mother. I was always performing for the handycam. They just had to nudge me and I would start singing and dancing, I was like their jukebox. But nothing prepares you for the industry other than the industry itself. You can grow up in it, and around it, but being in it is a different ball game. I just deal with fame differently on different days. I can read a comment and howl on one day and read something similar and find it funny the next day. It was my biggest dream to be a Dharma heroine and work for Karan Johar. I was 18 when I auditioned for Student of the Year 2. I cried when the Dharma tune played before the film was shown.
Q/ Suhana Khan, Shanaya Kapoor and you are good friends, but also competitors of sorts. How does that work?
A/ I don’t think we feel any competition between us. We are all the same age, but we are like sisters honestly. They are like those cousins that I cannot get rid of, even if I try really hard. They are always going to be in my life and I love that. We used to do these acting things when we were growing up―play ‘mother mother’ and imitate our moms! But for me I am living the dream with my best friends. There is a lot of support and understanding between us. I feel really understood and safe with them. We discuss boys, clothes, everything… rarely films.
Bharat Poojari, director, Sukh Sagar Hotels | Amey Mansabdar
Q/ Everyone in the movie industry has had a nip, tuck or filler. But you are AI-pretty without any of them. And you endorse 22 brands, the most among any actor.
A/ My mom does face yoga and so do I (laughs). Honestly, I believe you do you. Whatever makes you feel confident, you should do that. I wish I could go and shake every person and be like, you are so beautiful, you don’t need to do anything. The brands are all thanks to my team. I only promote brands that align with me and with what I stand for as a person.
Q/ There are two issues that are very prominent in the west and which I want to get your reaction on. One is, of course, LGBTQIA+ rights, and the second is climate change.
A/ I am a huge ally, and love is love for me. It is all about equality for me and hopefully we will get there. There is hope of equality, and I started my digital social responsibility idea ‘So Positive’ to take on online trolling and bullying. Climate change? It is so hot. We can physically feel the climate change, and it is very scary. I don’t know what more proof people need to understand that climate change is real.
Q/ Are you political? Did your candidate win?
A/ For me, women’s safety in India and the education of children, especially girls, are very important. It is a topic I want politicians to talk about. I am not going to disclose who I voted for (laughs).
Q/ You have just bought yourself a house at the very young age of 25. I love what a young successful, working-girl vibe that has.
A/ I have been very privileged and cushioned growing up. But it was important for me to live on my own and kind of make my own decisions and see what I am like as a person. When I am sad, I usually go to my mom’s room and she fixes it for me. But I need to be more self-reliant, I need to figure things out myself. I think I was having a quarter-life crisis.