Did some films for the wrong reasons: Ananya Panday
Ananya Panday made her acting debut with ‘Student of the Year 2’ in 2019 and has been part of some fairly successful films and duds. The actor finally found her footing as an artiste with her films ‘Gehraiyaan’ and more recently, ‘Kho Gaye Hum Kahan’. However, she recently admitted that she has done some projects in the past for the wrong reasons.
In a conversation with ‘Film Companion’, Ananya said that every time she did a film she didn’t believe in, it reinforced her belief in doing films for the right reasons.
“I think maybe I did it for the wrong reasons and I always knew that somewhere in my heart. Then, when it didn’t go exactly as planned, I think it reinforced my belief in myself a lot more that you just have to go with your instinct because that’ll always pay off. You know working with good people and doing a script you believe in, in some way, is always going to pay off,” said the actor.
After her debut in a Karan Johar film, Ananya was part of movies such as ‘Pati Patni Aur Woh’, ‘Liger’, ‘Khaali Peeli’ and ‘Dream Girl 2’. The daughter of Chunky Pandey, Ananya has now completely fallen in love with the craft of acting. She also feels very responsible about the characters she picks up.
“I feel like I’ve lost myself and I’ve just fallen in love with the process of acting,” said the actor, who recently bought her first house.
She added, “I don’t want to do less and I feel like it’ll be a disappointment to so many women and girls out there if I reduce them to that as well. Because, at the end of the day, I’m portraying them on screen. I’m telling their stories, so I don’t want to do any injustice to them in that way.”
Ananya also shared that filmmaker Vikramaditya Motwane made her realise that she doesn’t listen to anyone while finalising a script for herself.
“As Vikram sir said, I’ve always been a people pleaser and a teacher’s pet, so I need to get better at everything that I do. So, every time I choose a script, he says, ‘I don’t listen to too many people around me’. It has to come from within,” she said.
