Stars in Her Eyes

As a child, Aneet Padda was so lost in her own world that her mother took her to a doctor. Teachers at school wondered why she seemed to drift off in class. But Padda's questions weren't about confusion—they were philosophical: “What is a week? And why do we put seven days in it?” She would wake her mother up at odd hours, asking how many stars there were in the universe.

- By Siddhant Konduskar

Aneet Padda (23)

Actor

Today, that dreamy child is one of Bollywood's most promising actors, with her breakthrough performance in Saiyaara earning her widespread acclaim.

Saiyaara has given Padda visibility, opportunities and attention, but its deepest impact, she believes, was internal. “Before, I would close my eyes and dream things up, hoping they would happen. Now everything feels possible.” More than that, the experience grounded her. “I connected with myself after a long time.”

For the 23-year-old, this training started in childhood. Padda's mother, who worried that she tended to withdraw, pushed her towards expressing herself—speech competitions, poetry readings, small moments on stage. One such competition became formative. Instead of teaching her how to perform a patriotic poem, her mother explained its meaning and asked her to say it the way she felt it. Padda won the first prize. She recalls this now as her first acting lesson: Emotion before technique.