Feb 12 : Debuted with a bang through the 2019 super hit film ‘Student of the Year 2’, her acting earned accolades from the critics as well as applause from the mass. Daughter of veteran actor Chunky Panday, Ananya has established a dedicated fan base. Her latest offering ‘Gehraiyaan’ by Shakun Batra has started streaming on Amazon Prime Video and already started pouring rave reviews.
Ananya had an exclusive tete-a-tete with UNI…… Q. As I have seen, your character is facing loads of emotional turmoil. How have you prepared for ‘Tia’? Ananya: Honestly, it was all thanks to Shakun, you know. I have not gone through the experience that my character ‘Tia’ has gone through in her life especially at that scale and that level. But I observed certain relationships around me, I observed certain people and their behaviour around me. And that I put a lot of those into Tia and what she felt about everything going on around her. Shakun helped me streamline those thoughts, there was also a lot of my self that I borrowed from Tia, as I said that I have not felt exactly what she felt but I felt heartbreak and betrayal to some level and I had to just dig deeper and contextualize those feelings in Tia’s scenario.
Q. When you first met Shakun, what was his brief for your character? Ananya: There was no brief. We were always talking and we were always having conversations. But I think the basic was that Tia is an innocent girl and she sees the best in people, she is extremely loving and loyal and in a sort of way dependent on her partner. So, that was kind of the basics of Tia. She is a great friend as well. That was the basics we started with and then we built a lot on that.
Q. Often actors says, there comes characters that need lots of involvement. It seems, Tia demanded more of your emotional involvement. How tough a job is it to get yourself detached from this kind of character? Ananya: No, you know honestly it is the other way around. I never felt like I was ever switching on and playing Tia. I just felt like she was a part of me anyway. I felt you know sometimes when you playing a character that’s quite similar to how you are anyway as a person. It can be scary and when you have to show your most vulnerable or your most fragile side in front of the camera, I think it took a lot of breaking down of those walls. And once you do that, it is a very liberating and freeing experience. So, I think it changed me a lot as a person and as an actor.
Q. Did Chunky Ji guides you in choosing a script that comes your way or Ananya is ‘solely responsible’ for all the films she do? Ananya: No, he doesn’t. He doesn’t help me in that way. He is always around if I need any advice or help. When he was starting, he also didn’t have any help and he kind of wants me to have my journey and make my own mistakes and learn from it. And he wants everything to be my own decision. But my mom (Bhavana Panday) definitely reads my script but she doesn’t give her opinion till I have decided whether I’m doing it or not.
Q. Do you believe in marriage? Ananya: Of course, I believe in marriages. I do hope to get married someday myself. Q. How would you describe the ‘perfect relationship’? Ananya: For me, an ideal relationship would be someone with who I’m best friends. Someone who I can be myself with completely, who I can trust, who I can have any conversation without feeling judged. And somewhere where I feel like I’m most myself.
Q. Does Ananya have any guilty feelings from within? Ananya: I think everyone has guilty feelings within. Everyone has a complex and has the baggage that they carry. Q. What’s your family’s reaction after watching ‘Gehraiyaan’? Ananya: They loved it. They loved Shakun’s previous work and they were just blown away with the magic that he has created on screen and all the performances.
Q. We see there is an intimacy director in ‘Gehraiyaan’. How does it feel to have an intimacy director on set? Doesn’t it ruin the instincts of an actor? Ananya: No, not at all. It helps to create a very safe environment on set. We have a dance coordinator and we have an action coordinator, so why should we not have an intimacy coordinator on set? You know, we start conversations like consent and boundaries. With that as actors, we discuss before a scene if they are OK with doing this, with being touched in a certain way, what they are comfortable with. I think these are extremely important conversations to have. And we all approach it the way we approach a scene. conversation of intimacy with our film has become a really big deal but we’ve actually tried to normalize it in the film. And we are not trying to sensationalize or scandalize it anyway. We tried to show it as a part of the narrative.
Q. What’s on your pipeline after this? Ananya: I have ‘Liger’ which will release on August 25 across the nation. It stars Vijay Deverakonda and myself. It’s directed by Puri (Jagannadh) Sir. It’s an out and out masala, action, drama, thriller, romance, comedy; a mixed genre film. It’s super fun. Then I have ‘Kho Gaye Hum Kahan’, directed by Arjun Varain Singh, which I’m gonna start shooting from mid of March. Siddhant (Chaturvedi) is in it with me again and there’s Adarsh Gourav as well. It’s a film about social media and the digital world and three friends. And I have one more announcement that’s gonna come out soon. Q. How is your ‘Social Media for Social Good’ and ‘So Positive’ going? Ananya: It’s going well. I have a lot of exciting announcements that’s gonna come out soon.
