FROM ASCENT TO APEX

When rising star ANANYA PANDAY crosses paths with resurgent legend ZEENAT AMAN, it's a celebration of womanhood in all its glory.

- SUHANI SINGH

Zeenat Aman and Ananya Panday have never met, but you wouldn't think so witnessing the scene at a studio in the tony suburb of Bandra, Mumbai. The 25-year-old welcomes the 71-year-old with a warm hug and instantly breaks ice as she chats about how Ananya's mom, Bhavana, crossed paths with Zeenat few weeks back in Pune. "I'm seeing my favourite grandchild," says Zeenat at one point. Ananya felt that grandma warmth in the touch of Zeenat's hand. "Being so close to her reminded me a lot of my dadi," says Ananya.

The scene is less a clash of generations and more a beautiful alignment of the new and the old guard. Ananya wasn't born; in fact her father, Chunky Panday, hadn't made his own screen debut, when Zeenat was at the peak of her stardom in the 1970s and early 80s. Ananya has seen some of those highs, that electric screen presence and inimitable poise which made Zeenat stand out in films like Don (1978) and Satyam Shivam Sundaram (1978) and in chartbusters, which still get people onto their feet, like 'Dum Maaro Dum' and 'Laila O Laila'. Stars fade, but the resplendent return of Zeenat was one of the heart-warming stories of 2023.That Zeenat did so without a film or a web series but by acing the 'gram, a particularly potent tool for Generation Z, is all the more admirable.

Ananya, like many of us, has been in awe of Zeenat's candour, wit and grace on the platform. "She just came on social media and shut everyone up. She set the rules," says Ananya. "She was like I will tell you everything honestly and you have to take my word for it. To do so, when everyone is so scared of judgement and opinion, is incredible."