Ananya Panday comes off easy to judge. She is visibly steeped in privilege—both socioeconomic and ‘pretty’. It’s the easiest thing to write her off as a ‘nepo baby’—god knows there’s no dearth of them in Bollywood, landing big-banner films and luxury brand ambassadorships from the get-go. And her early outings—debuting at Le Bal in Paris, being launched by Karan Johar in Student Of The Year 2, her viral ‘struggle’ comment—only led more and more people to roll their eyes at the very mention of her name.
But in 2024, Panday has got every set of those eyes rolled back into place, even widened in pleasant surprise. It began at the fag end of last year, with Netflix’s film Kho Gaye Hum Kahan, which she pulled off with relatable vulnerability. She went deeper into the OTT space with Prime Video’s series Call Me Bae in September and later Netflix’s AI thriller CTRL in October. By then, endorsements from brands across fashion, phones to even petcare started pouring in incessantly. It’s safe to say she had become unignorable in the best possible way, a force that proved that she was more than just a pretty face with Bollywood connections.
Saumyaa Vohra chats with Bhavana Pandey, Collin D'Cunha and Anaita Shroff Adajania about what makes Ananya Panday so special.
