I never thought that I would introduce myself to the Bollywood forum by declaring my undying love for Ananya Panday… and yet here I am.
You see, Ananya and I have a very special connection.
I’m in love with her and she’d try to file a lawsuit if she ever found this because I’m insane.
Think of us as kindred spirits. Twin flames. Soulmates. Actually, Ananya and I are totally living out our own little soulmate AU! Whenever something amazing happens in her life, the universe takes a ginormous dump on mine. And vice versa.
Exhibit A
(This was absolutely the moment in the trailer when I first fell in love with her.)
Ananya made her debut with Student of the Year 2 on May 10, 2019. That was the same day that I was officially hired for my first job ever, so thank you my love for choosing to debut with your Karan uncle’s film because you really took one for the team there. See, this is what a relationship that’s actually built on love and support looks like, everyone take notes.
Exhibit B
(I should’ve replaced moustache man.)
This one’s a double-edged sword because we both won and lost here. As you’ve probably gathered by now, Ananya Panday is genuinely one of the kindest, most selfless people to ever exist, which is absolutely why I love her so much. But the entire world got to see her as I do when she decided to take on the role of Tapasya Singh in Pati Patni Aur Woh. This film made a stupid amount of money and was a trillion times better than the dumpster fire that was SOTY2 (Ananya’s words, not mine, I am but a simple mouthpiece). She obviously decided to do this movie out of the goodness of her own heart (because why else would you do this movie?) and it worked in her favour. And it clearly worked in mine as well because how else was I able to get an A on a paper I just barely submitted before the deadline if not thanks to Ananya’s existence?
So that was how we both won… Here’s how we lost.
Ananya may have been the one to play Tapasya, but asli tapasya hum dono ki li gayi thi; her while filming the movie and me while watching it. Yes, that’s right, I decided to spend 126 minutes of the little life that I have left sitting through this monstrosity for Ananya and Ananya alone because you know what? Sometimes we have to suffer for the people we love and honestly, she was great, best part of the movie actually, I have no notes except Ananya I love you so much please pick better movies.
Exhibit C
(Whoever took these pictures of her was really out to get her because look at this, they did my girl so dirty.)
Ananya received her first-ever debut award at the 65th Filmfare Awards in 2020. And as ecstatic as I was, because clearly she was the most deserving nominee that year, it was not a great night for me. While Ananya was relishing in her victory, for the first time in my six years of taking Spanish, I failed a Spanish test.
We both believe that this is the curse of Tara Sutaria with her stupid pretty face and voice of an angel, who does she think she is?!
Exhibit D
(meme the hell out of this)
Well, we all know what this night was. It was December 31st, right before the New Year that would proceed to torture all of us, and while I was celebrating the miracle that was my GPA skyrocketing to a 4.0… Ananya was experiencing quite possibly the worst night of her life. She had been a part of The Newcomers Roundtable 2019 with other fellow newcomers to the industry, including future co-star and career destroyer, Siddhant Chaturvedi.
The conversation at this roundtable soon shifted to the topic of nepotism because of course it did. None of these poor up-and-coming young talents asked for their parents to be famous, but they are. What do you expect them to do, not take these opportunities that their parents have presented to them on a silver platter? It is absolutely unfair to be so hypercritical of people like Ananya because of their immense privilege. As she said, usne bohot struggle kiya hai, poor thing. Her father never even went on Koffee With Karan so is he even really a rich, successful actor? Does she even have enough privilege to be considered a nepo kid? I think not, and Siddhant knew this as well, which is why he chose to attack her the way that he did. He absolutely made no valid criticisms of Ananya as a person or the industry as a whole, he was just really bitter. I don’t care how funny the memes were, I am Ananya Panday’s ride-or-die, I’ll always have her back and I certainly made no memes of my own.
(Absolute angel, love of my life, my sun my moon my stars, my raison d’être.)
Despite all of this, Ananya has continued to find success in this industry through her amazing work in films such as Khaali Peeli, Liger, and of course, the masterpiece that was Gehraiyaan where Siddhant was the villain in her story and not at all the most compelling part of the film. I love when life imitates art! I just hope that my future successes don’t result in like, the end of her Bollywood career or something, because that would just be the worst thing ever. If there’s one thing that Ananya needs to do, it’s to continue acting forever.
Ananya Panday is the next big thing and I am not letting the rest of you ruin this for me just because you don’t understand just how talented and amazing she is. Do you have any idea how long I’ve been waiting for an age-appropriate, single actor that I can realistically be with to debut in Bollywood?!
Yes Diya, because Ananya Panday would totally date the likes of you.
She’s a water sign and I’m a fire sign, we’re clearly meant to be. Ayan Mukerji wrote Brahmāstra about us. I’m the Dev to her Amrita. The flavour to her blandness. The murderous Duolingo owl to her unhinged Twitter bird.
Ananya Panday may not be your dream girl, but she sure as hell is mine.
Shiv Shakti
Ye Hai Mohabbatein
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