Titas Chowdhury (HINDUSTAN TIMES; March 18, 2020)

Gul Panag is elated and satisfied with the way her career has shaped over the past few months. The actor, who was seen in a couple of films and a bunch of web shows, feels fortunate that good roles have been coming her way even though she has never “gone around looking” for work. “It’s fantastic that people are reaching out to me to play such diverse parts and it’s extremely flattering. I don’t do networking and socialising. I’m not going out there searching and canvasing for work. The work that I’ve done in the last ten months is more than the entire work I’ve done since my first film (Dhoop) in 2003,” she says.

Giving us a glimpse into the last ten months of her career, she elaborates, “It’s extremely gratifying for me that there are so many different kinds of work out there. I played a coach in Student Of The Year 2, a glamorous and modern antagonist in Bypass Road (both 2019), a small supporting part of an army officer in The Family Man that received massive appreciation, a gangster in Rangbaaz Phir Se and a strong woman in Pawan & Pooja. The range of parts is phenomenal and I got the opportunity to lead such different lives in the last ten months.”

The Dor (2006) actor says that it’s her acting career that has enabled her to branch out and don multiple hats. “Acting is just one of the things that I do. I’m not saying that I’m a part-time actor. Acting is very important to me, as my acting career is an enabler for all the other things that I do and I can’t run away from that. I could be an entrepreneur and connect with people because they know me as an actor. As a producer, I’m being able to do projects because of my acting career,” she signs off. 

Bunty Aur Babli director Shaad Ali on handing over the baton for the sequel
Upala KBR (MID-DAY; February 6, 2020)

When the sequel to Bunty Aur Babli was announced last month, there was much talk about Abhishek Bachchan not reprising his role. Reports also suggested that Shaad Ali, the director of the 2005 hit, had refused to helm the latest instalment featuring Rani Mukerji, Saif Ali Khan, Siddhant Chaturvedi and Sharvari as he was busy with his web series, Pawan & Pooja.

Rubbishing the rumours, the filmmaker says that he is only too happy to hand over the baton to his former assistant director and now debutant director Varun V Sharma. "My work [in the universe of Bunty Aur Babli] is done. It's somebody else's thought and story; he has written the script. So, let him do the sequel and I am sure he will make a good movie. I don't have any regrets about not doing it. I was never meant to direct the sequel," he states.

Ali is currently dividing his time between Pawan & Pooja, and the biopic on his grandmother, freedom fighter Lakshmi Sehgal. "It's my dream project. I have passed on the baton of writing to somebody else as I was too close to the project. The script is ready. I am fine-tuning the creative [aspects]."