Ananya Panday and Vijay Deverakonda are set to star together in the upcoming film Liger, which marks his Bollywood debut. Recently, the two actors were guests on Karan Johar’s popular talk show Koffee With Karan, where Ananya criticised Vijay’s popular Telugu film Arjun Reddy. Ananya’s candid statement while sitting next to Vijay earned her praise from fans on social media Arjun Reddy is a 2017 film starring Vijay Deverakonda and Shalini Pandey. It was remade in Hindi as Kabir Singh in 2019 with Shahid Kapoor and Kiara Advani in lead. Both films were criticised for promoting toxic masculinity and normalising violence on women in romantic relationships. Vijay has long defended his film. On Koffee With Karan, Ananya said she never came across such women who would tolerate all that, like Vijay has suggested.

In an interview with Bollywood Hungama, Vijay said he was ‘proud’ of Ananya for saying that. He said, “I didn’t know what was happening. She mentioned that people seem to like her take, her very honest opinion on the film while I was next to her. But then, she is comfortable talking and I am really open to opinions. I love listening to people’s opinions. I don’t disregard anybody. If you feel this way, good. There must be a reason you feel this way. I may not agree with you or see both sides of the coin but I am glad she spoke what she thought.”