E-Paper
Editor’s Note: The privilege of good sense
There’s another perspective on the nepotism debate that cover girl and actor Ananya Panday exemplifies
I first met Chunky Panday at his Bandra residence as a 10-year-old boy. My cousin sisters, who studied at a girls’ convent school adjacent to the balcony where the actor stood in a towel every morning, had scored an audience with the star, and dragged me along.
Chunky guffawed when he realised his post-shower ritual was such a hit.
As I got to know the actor better as a young journalist, I came to associate him with this very trait: the guffaw. Interestingly, that’s the very characteristic his daughter points to in our Father’s Day cover story this year. “I’ve inherited his sense of humour,” says Ananya. “Laugh at yourself first,” adds Chunky. “We all do stupid things once in a while.”
Ananya Panday, 23, comes from privilege, but has faced challenges that could easily stare down those her seniors encounter. Inundated by trolls, she started So Positive, an online campaign to make social media a more pleasant place, and scored her first Brunch cover in August 2019.
Our story today showcases a changing father-daughter vibe: Chunky is progressive enough to admit that in many ways his daughter knows better, and Ananya is honest enough to know that her father’s biggest failures are her most important founding lessons.
Chunky acknowledges Ananya’s privilege: “There is no denying the fact that there are people who are not as privileged as Ananya. But the point is, if those people need to achieve 10, she, because of her head start, needs to achieve 100.”
This story coincides with another emerging POV: not every kid born into privilege is all bad. A magazine has put superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s son,
Aryan Khan , on the cover. Recently acquitted in a drug bust case that now reeks of foul play, the public is finally asking: were the months of trial a 24-year-old was subjected to for no fault of his, and the everyday judgment by the public at large, justified just because he was the son of someone famous?
Here’s looking towards a future full of more sensible points of view, a bright career for young Ananya (and Aryan, whatever he chooses to do), and more father-daughter bonds that are founded on as much positivity, laughter and trust.
Also in this issue, Araya Health’s Ahilya Mehta, 27, writes about a persistent problem a recent deodorant ad has spotlighted: our movies normalised stalking, she remarks, but in 2022, how can we still have ads that promote rape culture?!
Noah Barnes and Anubhuti Raikwar, both 34, argue about the service tax dilemma at restaurants: should eateries add it automatically to the bill, or should the customer decide what they want to tip?
And, Nikhil Taneja, in a heartfelt open letter , turns trolls that slide into our DMs into living, feeling persons, who have the ability to be compassionate and turn a new leaf.
The future belongs to millennials. And as Ananya, Ahilya, Noah, Anubhuti and Nikhil show us, the future is in good hands!
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From HT Brunch, June 11, 2022
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