‘Spare our culture, Bollywood’: Social media trolls Ananya Panday's Bharatnatyam performance in Chand Mera Dil

Ananya Panday's Bharatnatyam dance sequence in Chand Mera Dil has faced criticism on social media for allegedly being ‘robotic’, disrespectful to the art form.

Published on: May 25, 2026, 12:04:54 IST

By Rishabh Suri

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Chand Mera Dil, starring Lakshya and Ananya Panday, opened in theatres last Friday to a lukewarm response. What's creating headlines though is not the film itself- but her dance. Bharatnatyam, to be precise.

Social media is busy trolling her for her performance. In two key sequences in the romance drama, Ananya's character Chandni is shown doing a robotic-Bharatnatyam fusion: one, when she is a college student, where Lakshya's character sees her for the first time. And the second time, during her college's Alumni meet. Unconvinced by her efforts, people were quick to dissect it. Check out some of the angry reactions:

The comments have not been encouraging too. One read, “Should have had AI do those steps Would have been better Why are we still being given such substandard” Another comment said, “She is literally making fun” One of the comments criticised a traditional dance form being executed like this “Such a disgrace. Her performance is an insult to the beautiful dance form,let these bollywood kiddos stick to hops and other western dance forms”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rishabh Suri
Rishabh Suri is an Assistant Editor, film critic, and professional overthinker of plot points. He writes for HT City, keeping pace with an industry where news cycles expire long before the popcorn gets cold. He completed his graduation in English Honours from Kirori Mal College, followed by a Master’s degree in English Literature-effectively training his brain to over-analyse classic texts before applying those exact same skills to 3-hour Bollywood blockbusters. He got into the profession when he had barely graduated from college and has been at HT ever since. At HT, Rishabh reviews films with a simple rule: skip the dense academic jargon and get straight to the point. Beyond reviews, as Assistant Editor, he helps navigate the broader circus of showbiz, tracking everything from OTT shifts to sudden box office panics. In a beat driven by loud PR machinery and carefully scripted answers, Rishabh prefers cutting through the noise to focus on how stories get made and why trends shift. When he isn’t writing against a deadline, he is usually sitting in a dark theater, compulsively memorising dialogues. For Rishabh, analysing movies isn't just a day job- it’s a habit he couldn't turn off even if he tried.Read More

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