Gehraiyaan: Ananya Panday says the film changed her as a person, recalls first meeting with Shakun Batra

Ananya Panday isn’t just one of the most sought after and promising Gen-Z stars but also one who is working with the best filmmakers this early in her career. Despite being only four films old; the young star is taking on a complex and layered character in Shakun Batra ’s Gehraiyaan, that journeys into the intricacies of human relationships.

While Shakun has always been on Ananya’s bucket list, she was elated when the filmmaker approached her for the highly anticipated film and was confident she could pull off the role with both impact and earnesty.

Shares Ananya Pandey, “Honestly, Shakun was a dream director. He was on my bucket list and when I got to go home and put a little tick mark next to his name, it really made me super emotional. But honestly, my first meeting with Shakun was really funny because of the kind of films he makes. I was such a big fan of ‘Kapoor & Sons’ that when I thought I will meet him, I will have to watch like these foreign cinema, so I watched a few Swedish and Polish films and I went to meet him. And when we met, he came across like a super chilled-out guy. So I thought that this is my kind of guy and we became really good friends.” 

“When I say that he is completely an actor’s director, I mean it because the amount of space he gives to the actors and the importance of preparations… is commendable. He talks you through things and he makes you believe that you actually thought of that when he was actually kind of seeding it into your head. It was a very interesting process for me. It has just changed me as a person and not just as an actor. When Shakun and Aisha narrated the film to me, I was in shock that the project came to me. I was just so happy to be a part of a film like this. Shakun was literally on my bucket list and I was just in shock that he wanted to work with me so it’s been my biggest blessing to be a part of this film. Every moment of working on this film has been magical; I’ve not just changed as an actor but as a person. We took so long to come up with the title of the film because it was really hard to just put one term to the film because it’s an experience and you can’t just put it in one word,” Ananya adds.

Interestingly, Ananya isn’t just working with some of the most acclaimed filmmakers but also some of the most celebrated stars including Deepika Padukone in Gehraiyaan and opposite south star Vijay Deverekonda in Liger.

Talking about her journey in the industry, producer Karan Johar mentioned, “I’ve seen Ananya since she was a day old and I’m proud to see her grow from strength to strength from a girl, to a lovely lady, to now such a potential promising actor and that’s what everyone will discover when they see Gehraiyaan. She always brings a certain warmth and a certain sincerity when she comes to shoot and everyone who’s worked with her will say that.”