Ananya Panday received a lot of flak during her early films like ‘Liger,’ ‘Pati, Patni, Aur Woh,’ and ‘Dream Girl 2.’ The actress often faced criticism for her acting skills and choice of roles. However, her public perception pivoted after she started taking over the OTT space. Her roles in ‘Call Me Bae,’ ‘CTRL’ and ‘Kho Gaye Hum Kahan’ amassed her admiration from viewers and critics alike. Recently, Chunky Panday revealed that Ananya felt she was too young to do ‘Liger.’ It was he who pushed her to do the film as it was a full-blown commercial flick.

In the film, Ananya Panday starred opposite Vijay Deverakonda. Karan Johar backed the film. Despite her apprehensions, she went ahead with the film following her father’s advice. Chunky revealed, “When she asked me if she should do this film… she was thinking that she was too young for it. She said ‘Papa, I am too young to do this.’ I said you do this, it’s a commercial, a big film but maybe she was right. She was too young to do it.”

Advertisement

 

Advertisement

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Ananya (@ananyapanday)

Looking at it in retrospect, Chunky acknowledged that she debuted at 18 but her baby features made her look 16. He stated, “She was uncomfortable. She said, ‘Maybe I am too young for this.’ She was confused then.”

He iterated that after ‘Liger’, he never influenced her decision-making. Chunky added that if Ananya had asked his opinion about ‘Call Me Bae,’ he would have said no. “From that day on, I never put any pressure on her. Maybe I was wrong. I am old school. I don’t know anything else. If she had asked me ‘Papa, should I do Bae?’ I would have said no.” Notably, ‘Call Me Bae’ emerged as a success and Ananya’s quirky and bubbly personality elevated the role.

Also Read: Major Ram returns! SRK and Farah Khan unite for ‘Main Hoon Na 2’: Report

Meanwhile, in a previous conversation with We Are Yuvaa’s YouTube channel, Ananya reflected on ‘Liger.’ She shared that she was “sad and upset” after the film tanked. She added,” We are not doing a film together again.” When Chunky noted that sometimes, one just has to do a film, she said, “No. You are not allowed to give me advice after Liger.”

Moving ahead, she has ‘Kesari Chapter 2’ in the pipeline.