Before Saiyaara, Ahaan Panday auditioned for the Hindi remake of THIS Tamannaah Bhatia film: ‘Ananya wasn’t even…’
Ahaan Panday made his debut this year at the age of 27. But he gave his first audition when he was just 16
Following in the footsteps of his uncle Chunky Panday, Ahaan Panday made his acting debut with Mohit Suri’s Saiyaara this year. The young star became an overnight sensation, receiving love from across the country for his versatile and vulnerable performance as Krish Kapoor. Well, Ahaan made his big screen debut at the age of 27 this year. But did you know that his journey in Bollywood began almost a decade ago? In a recent interview, Ahaan revealed that he gave his first audition before his cousin Ananya Panday began working, even though the latter got her first film Student of the Year 2 (2019) six years before her brother’s debut.
In a chat with GQ, Ahaan Panday was asked how old he was when he decided to pursue a career in acting. Hearing this, the Saiyaara star responded, “I used to participate in school dramas and speeches, but I wasn’t very confident. I’d push myself to get on stage, but I was introverted and awkward. And I never got the meaty roles either; I was always the tree or the rock (laughs). I was 16 when I gave my first audition for a Hindi remake of a Telugu film called Happy Days. But before all that, I was an angsty Tumblr teenager scribbling deep, pseudo-intellectual thoughts and thinking I was cool—which is probably why, initially, I wanted to be a writer.”
Further talking about how his acting journey began, Ahaan shared, “I was 16 when I gave my first audition. At the time, Ananya wasn’t even working yet; she is a year younger and hadn’t started Student of the Year 2.” For the uninitiated, Sekhar Kammula’s 2007 film Happy Days featuring Tamannaah Bhatia and Varun Sandesh was a huge box office success. Reports suggested that the film would get a Hindi remake directed by Sekhar himself and backed by Salman Khan, but till date there is no new update on the project.
Well, up next Ahaan will be seen in Ali Abbas Zafar’s upcoming actioner. Backed by YRF, the film will also star Sharvari in the lead.
