Ananya Panday recalls giving a ‘sly, indirect’ audition for Kho Gaye Hum Kahan

Ananya Panday will soon be seen in the coming of age drama movie Kho Gaye Hum Kahan. The film will stream directly to digital from December 26. Apart from Ananya, the film also stars Adarsh Gourav Gourav, Siddhanth Chaturvedi and Rohan Gurbaxani. In a new interview, the Dream Girl 2 actress opened up about her casting in the film. 

Ananya Panday recalls giving an indirect audition for Kho Gaye Hum Kahan 

In a conversation with Pinkvilla, Ananya Panday recalled how she slyly convinced the filmmaker to cast her in the role. The actress remembered how the director Arjun Varain Singh flew to Goa to meet with Siddhant when they were shooting for Gehraiyaan. She decided to be a part of the film then. 

Ananya Panday recalled, “My story doesn’t directly involve Zoya. So, basically, when I just heard about the film, I knew I had to be part of the film. So, I was shooting for Gehraiyaan, and Arjun had come to meet Sid to narrate the film to him.” She further added that she dressed for the part, ‘slyly’, without anyone knowing. She continued, “Also, it was my sly indirect audition for the film. So, Arjun was like, ‘Wait, she’s not bad. Why don’t we ask her to audition for the film?’ and then I auditioned for the film, and Arjun called me, and he’s like, ‘Listen, I really liked it, but Reema and Zoya…’ and my heart broke because he made it sound like I didn’t get it. He was like, ‘They also loved you,’ and I was like, ‘Thank God’.”  

Adarsh Gourav recalls his first meeting with Zoya Akhtar 

In the same conversation, Adarsh Gourav recalled his first meeting with Zoya Akhtar, the writer for Kho Gaye Hum Kahan. He remembered, “This was before I read the script. She wanted to see and talk to me in general. So, Reema (Kagti) and Zoya were both on call, and she was like, ‘Oh my God! You look young. How old are you?’ I think she wanted someone to look like 25-26, and I was that age. But I think I looked even younger. So, I’m like, no, ‘I’m this age and that,’ and also because of the perception of White Tiger and all, I think everybody was surprised at how I sounded in real life. Kyunki ussey pehle koi kaam zyada aaya nhi tha bahar (Because before that, not much of my work had come out). So, that was my first interaction.”