Get ready to meet un-Ananya

Ananya Panday

From Karan Johar-backed Student of the Year 2 (2019) to her last release Dream Girl 2, Ananya Panday's filmography has been built on mainstream entertainers. But her 2024 line-up looks eclectic - while she has young adult drama Kho Gaye Hum Kahan with Siddhant Chaturvedi and Adarsh Gourav, she also has The Untold Story of C Sankaran Nair that sees her as a junior lawyer to Akshay Kumar's character, and a web series in Call Me Bae. Most importantly, she will lead Vikramaditya Motwane's Control that revolves around the perils of artificial intelligence (AI). Sources say that the projects are carefully curated choices as Panday wants to shed her glamorous image and focus on performance-driven roles.

Vikramaditya Motwane

Motwane's cyber thriller is the first step in that direction. A source reveals, "Vikramaditya and Ananya come from different schools of cinema. She was thrilled to work with a filmmaker of his calibre. Control, which sees the actor play an Instagram influencer, is a fast-paced movie. She considers it her most complex role to date."

After collaborating with Motwane, the actor is eager to chase varied stories. The source adds, "Ananya was praised for her performance in Shakun Batra's Gehraiyaan [2021]. As directors, Vikramaditya and Shakun have had quite an influence on her. In 2024, she wants to choose substantial roles over glamorous ones."