Bollywood’s Gen Z princess, Ananya Panday, is growing up under the harshest spotlight of all - the internet - and somehow, she’s learning how to stay sparkly
and grounded at the same time.
The wide-eyed debutante from Student of the Year 2 has quietly, perhaps stubbornly, turned into someone who’s figured out how to play the game without becoming the game. At twenty-seven, Ananya Panday seems to have realized that “being glamorous” and being taken seriously don’t have to live on opposite ends of the Bollywood universe.
The Glow-Up That’s Not Just Glowy
Ananya Panday in Kho Gaye Hum Kahan
(@rheapillairastogi/Instagram)
Let's be honest - for the longest time, Ananya’s brand was pure gloss. Designer dresses, fancy vacations, and that sunshine-in-human-form Instagram feed. But somewhere between Gehraiyaan’s quiet melancholy and Kho Gaye Hum Kahan’s millennial angst, she learned to be seen differently. Not louder - just clearer.
(@ananyapandayoffi/Instagram)
Her latest stints in Call Me Bae and CTRL, both streaming hits, prove she’s comfortable laughing at her own privilege. Playing an influencer haunted by artificial intelligence? That’s meta, and kind of brave. Especially when your own life plays out, daily, on social media’s chessboard. Critics noted her sharp humor and unexpected restraint - two things not often said together about her earlier work.
And perhaps that’s the thing: she’s no longer trying to convince anyone. She’s experimenting. Trying, failing, shrugging, and trying again - with the self-awareness that makes her feel surprisingly human in an airbrushed industry.
The Year That Changed Things
Ananya Panday in CTRL
(@ananyapanday/Instagram)
Call it coincidence, but 2024 really was her pivot year - Call Me Bae, CTRL, and then the more rooted Kesari Chapter 2 in 2025. In Kesari 2, a sequel set against the Jallianwala Bagh backdrop, Ananya dropped the high heels for realism. She played a Punjabi lawyer who helps Akshay Kumar’s character fight colonial forces - no giggles, no glossy backdrop, just courtroom grit.
Ananya appears for screening of Kesari 2 in a ravishing saree
(@ananyapandayfollowers/Instagram)
A Filmfare reviewer even called her performance “restrained and graceful,” which, frankly, is like a gold star for someone once mocked for sounding like she lived in a Gucci bubble. And she earned it - dialect training, shadowing real lawyers, the whole deal.It wasn’t about proving a point anymore. It was about earning one.
Soul, Selfies, and Subtext
Ananya tries vlogging for the first time
(@ananyapanday/Instagram)
If you’ve followed her Instagram (and let’s face it, almost eight million people do), you can almost see that balance happening in slow motion. One day it’s glammed-up photo shoots; the next, candid notes about anxiety and identity, about not having it all figured out. Surprisingly refreshing from someone who could easily glide by on privilege alone.
(@dietsabya/Instagram)
She joked recently about people assuming her Maldives tan was “just bronzer,” posting a cheeky “this is a test” video to shut down trolls. It was playful, self-aware, and just a bit petty - exactly the kind of energy her age group thrives on.
The Road Ahead
(@dharmamovies/Instagram)
Two new romantic dramas - Chand Mera Dil with Lakshya and Tu Meri Main Tera opposite Kartik Aaryan - are already on her slate. There’s also talk of an Imtiaz Ali project and, believe it or not, Gully Boy 2 opposite Vicky Kaushal. She’s testing every shade of the Bollywood palette, from irony to idealism.
(@the_cinema.hub/Instagram)
Maybe that’s the lesson Ananya Panday’s slow-burn rise offers - that you don’t have to ditch the diamonds to be taken seriously. You just need to wear them while reading the script a little deeper. And she’s doing that gracefully, sometimes clumsily, often unexpectedly - like a woman learning the rhythm of her own applause.
For now, she seems comfortable standing at that fragile intersection of shimmer and sincerity. Pretty rare in Bollywood, and even rarer on Instagram. But then again, maybe that’s where the real star quality lies - not in being seen, but in being understood.
