Kesari 2 director slams ‘toxic’ hate against Ananya Panday, reveals Gehraiyaan led to her casting: ‘It’s tragic’ | Bollywood News

Ananya Panday is no stranger to trolling, and this time, the trolls have targeted her for her performance in the Akshay Kumar-starrer Kesari 2. While many have lauded her performance, others have argued that the role should have been portrayed someone else. Amid the ongoing debate, Kesari 2’s director Karan Tyagi has come out in Ananya’s support. He also admitted to casting her after seeing her performance in Shakun Batra’s Gehraiyaan.
In an interaction with News18, Karan shared that although a section of the audience has been trolling, he chooses to focus on the “positives” and the ‘love that she’s getting.’ Karan spoke about the toxicity of social media and how ‘people jump to conclusions very easily.’ “But I see very unnecessary hate on social media today, which tends to become toxic certain times. It’s tragic! This is the ill-effect of social media and we’ve to learn to live it with,” he said.
The filmmaker revealed that Ananya was cast in Kesari 2 back in 2022. He explained, “I remember watching Gehraiyaan and I was moved her performance in it. It was after watching that film that I met her and offered her the role of Dilreet Gill. I’ve to say that she’s remarkable in Kesari Chapter 2 and has put in so much hard work. She went through dialect classes for over a year. She has studied the mannerisms of female lawyers. We visited the Bombay High Court where she saw a female lawyer practicing in action.” Gehraiyaan released in 2022 and also starred Deepika Padukone and Siddhant Chaturvedi.
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Karan also shared that to do justice to her role, Ananya did a lot of homework. She ‘read a lot of literature on the Jallianwala Bagh massacre’ and ‘she imbibed the role of Dilreet Gill so well’. He said, “Ananya has a mix of vulnerability and steely resolve. She brought that out and exhibited them beautifully.”
For the unversed, Ananya plays a young lawyer in Kesari 2, who helps Akshay Kumar’s C Sankaran Nair in his legal battle against the British in the aftermath of the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre. Kesari 2 has been performing well at the box office. The film has collected Rs 42.55 crore within six days of release.