Aneet Padda Picks Alia Bhatt, Priyanka Chopra And Deepika Padukone As Her Dream Co-Stars, Wants To Explore Sisterhood In A Coming-Of-Age Comedy (EXCLUSIVE)

Aneet Padda has a very clear answer when asked which actors she would like to work with. The “Saiyaara” actor names Alia Bhatt, Priyanka Chopra and Deepika Padukone as the three performers she looks up to, calling them her “holy trinity.” For Padda, the admiration is not limited to their work on screen. She is equally inspired by how the three have held onto their individual identities while building careers across different roles and films.

In an exclusive conversation with Variety India, she says, “I have three inspirations: Alia Bhatt, Priyanka Chopra and Deepika Padukone! The holy trinity. I feel like all of them are such an inspiration because of the way that they’ve held on to the women they are.”

Aneet Padda speaks particularly warmly about Alia Bhatt, whom she describes as one of the most genuine people she has had the privilege of meeting. Her admiration for Chopra, meanwhile, comes from a different place. Padda says the actor and producer represents the kind of woman she aspires to become, pointing to her confidence and her willingness to voice her opinions without hesitation.

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“Alia is one of the most genuine people I’ve had the privilege to meet in my life. Priyanka Chopra is just the kind of woman I aspire to be like because she’s so confident and she’s not afraid to say what she thinks,” she says.

Aneet Padda has also already had a professional association with Chopra through “Hunkkaar: The Roar”, which Chopra is among the producers of. Padda plays Meenu Rawat in the project, a young woman who accuses a powerful godman of sexual assault. The experience adds another layer to Padda’s admiration for Chopra, though her appreciation for the actor clearly predates the opportunity to work within the same project.

Her first meeting with Deepika Padukone left Padda equally struck, although in a way that went beyond the actor’s filmography. She recalls being taken aback by Padukone’s beauty and personality, while also acknowledging the sheer breadth of work she has built over the years.

“When I met Deepika Padukone for the first time, I was so taken aback by her beauty and her personality; plus the plethora of work she has done. I cannot believe I’m in these rooms right now. I would love to work with them,” Padda says.

Her wish list, however, is not simply about getting three of her inspirations into the same frame. She already has an idea of the kind of story she would want to explore with one of them. The actor says she would particularly like to play out a sibling relationship in a coming-of-age comedy, drawing from the inherent messiness, affection and humor of growing up with a sister.

“I would love to do an exploration of a sibling relationship. Something that’s coming-of-age and also comedy because it’s really fun growing up with a sister,” she says.

Her choice of a sibling story also reveals the kind of material Padda is interested in exploring as she builds her career. Her screen journey has moved from the ensemble teen drama “Big Girls Don’t Cry” to her leading role in the theatrical “Saiyaara”, followed by “Hunkkaar: The Roar”. She is also set to headline “Shakti Shalini”, continuing her move into larger projects.

For Padda, the ambition seems as much about the collaborators and characters she wants to discover as it is about the scale of the films. When it comes to the performers she hopes to share the screen with, Bhatt, Chopra and Padukone sit firmly at the top of the list.