HT Leadership Summit 2026: Ananya Panday calls herself a greedy actor, shows interest in mythology while praising Ramayana

At the 24th Hindustan Times Leadership Summit, Ananya Panday spoke about women representation in cinema and the kind of roles she'd like to play.

Actor Ananya Panday and filmmaker Imtiaz Ali were guests at the 24th Hindustan Times Leadership Summit on Saturday. The duo spoke about cinema to HT's Sonal Kalra, and the actor opened up about everything from women's representation in cinema to the kind of roles she would love to play. She also expressed an interest in mythology while praising Nitesh Tiwari’s Ramayana.

Ananya Panday at the 24th Hindustan Times Leadership Summit, in conversation about cinema. (HT Photo)

Ananya Panday on her love of mythology

At the HT Leadership Summit, Ananya was asked if she watched Ramayana and said, “I did. Blown away, love, love loved it.” She recalled growing up hearing Indian mythological tales from her mother and grandmother, leading to her interest in mythology.

Follow live updates on HTLS 2026 here.

Being greedy as an actor

Ananya also spoke about the kind of roles she would like to play in the future. “I like everything; I am a very greedy actor. I want to be able to do every possible thing,” she said. The actor also added that she loved crying on screen, chalking it up to her not being an emotional person in real life. “I find a lot of actors saying that. They really love going there emotionally. I do enjoy comedy a lot; I feel like it’s very freeing,” she added.

Ananya also spoke about Indian cinema having space for everything from testosterone-pumping films to female-led ones. “We also have films like Lokah or Gangubai or Kahaani or Piku. Imtiaz sir is such an example of how he has created a balance between male and female emotions. There would be no Rockstar without Heer. It’s not that she exists in relation to him. He also exists in relation to her. I think he has created that so beautifully. So, we always have examples of films where women are shining, and I don’t think it’s just about a film where the woman is the central character,” said the actor.

Ananya last starred in the romantic drama Chand Mera Dil with Lakshya as her co-star. The film was directed by Vivek Soni and produced by Dharma Productions. It starred her alongside Lakshya.