ANANYA PANDAY FORCE OF NATURE

She's mixed fashion highs and on-screen evolution with thoughtful reflection. The buzzy actor opens up about the grounded pulse behind the girl-next-door persona.

- BY SALONI DHRUV

ANANYA PANDAY IS already in her PJs in bed at 9. 30pm on a Wednesday. You'd think that means she's winding down for the day, but no, I'm not the last thing on her to-do list. Technically, this was supposed to be her day off. “As always, I’ve packed 700 things to do in a day, so it’s not really a day off,” she says, fresh off a long narration session. And she still has one task left before calling it a night: putting up her Christmas tree.

Over Zoom, her perfectly imperfect bedhead and pink pyjamas feel worlds away from the It girl she is on screen and on Instagram. But she insists she wasn’t always that girl. “Earlier, I’d wear what I was told to, or what was trending. Now I know exactly what I want to wear and whether I’m comfortable in it,” she says, gesturing towards her PJs as proof. If she wasn't a fashion girl growing up, she’s certainly eased and evolved into one now.

This year marked a major milestone towards that: the 27-year-old became the first Indian global ambassador for Chanel. In the Panday household, Chanel was always treated with reverence. “It was such a big thing in our house to have a Chanel bag,” she recalls. “My mom used to hide hers and never let me borrow them. When I did my first film, the only gift she asked for was a Chanel bag.”

As the brand’s ambassador, she was invited to attend her first Chanel runway show at the Grand Palais in October. The anticipation was high as Matthieu Blazy, the fourth designer to take the reins of the French maison, was making his debut. “The collection had such playfulness, highlighted in different silhouettes and colours,” she says, her eyes lighting up at the memory. “There was so much joy in it.”