A year-and-half into her acting career, with three film releases and two in the pipeline, Ananya Panday’s career is shaping up well. The year 2020 affected her film Khaali Peeli’s theatrical release, but it received attention via pay-per-view and drive-in theatre release. And this year, the 22-year-old is looking forward to the release of Shakun Batra’s untitled next with Deepika Padukone and Siddhant Chaturvedi, and Fighter, starring Telugu actor Vijay Deverakonda. Excerpts from a chat:

It’s a mix... Shakun’s film is what he calls a domestic noir. I’m very excited to be working with him, Deepika and Sid, we’ve all become really close. Plus, the shooting experience in Goa, it feels like I have another family on that set. Working with Puri (Jagannadh, director of Fighter) sir was a completely different experience. It’s an out-and-out masala action comedy. It’s a pan-India film, releasing in four languages.

It’s like entering four industries at the same time! I have the same thoughts: ‘Will I be accepted? Will people like me?’ I hope I find a place in those industries as well. We will shoot it primarily in two languages simultaneously — Telugu and Hindi.

If I’ve to use one word, it will probably be ‘growth’. Initially, it felt like everything has come to a standstill. Just sitting at home, there was a lot of personal growth, I learnt a lot about myself. The kind of work I want to do… I don’t think I spent so much time just with myself and my thoughts. Earlier, I had no time to sit down and be grateful. Khaali Peeli was a very special film for all of us involved. Even though it had an OTT release, it had fun elements like drive-in theatre release.

I don’t think I ever want to feel I’ve arrived and become complacent. I feel there’s something more to do and achieve. It keeps motivating me to do better. I’m blessed to have three films in a short span of time. The acceptance makes me feel overwhelmed, especially from kids; it makes my heart really warm.