Sonal Mansingh calls Ananya Panday’s Bharatanatyam ‘absolute trash’, and she’s not alone
For artists like Sonal Mansingh and Anita Ratnam, borrowing the costume and name of a classical form without its discipline is not fusion. It is distortion.
Ananya Panday and the viral Bharatnatyam scene: ‘Chand Mera Dil’ is a 2026 Hindi romantic drama directed by Vivek Soni and produced by Dharma Productions. The film stars Ananya Panday and Lakshya as two college lovers. It released in theatres on May 22, 2026.
In a popular scene taking over the internet now, Ananya’s character Chandni performs Bharatnatyam dance. The clip shows a fusion of Bharatnatyam and modern hip-hop, and it has gone viral on social media. What followed was a wave of criticism that quickly grew beyond a film review into a larger debate about classical dance and Bollywood.
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What netizens said
The backlash picked up momentum after a user posted the clip on X and wrote, “Bharatnatyam devolved in 200 BCE and ended with Ananya Pandey in 2026.”
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Many users criticised the actress for stiff movements and lack of facial expressions. One viral comment joked that she turned the sacred art form of “Bharatanatyam into Bharta.”
Another viewer wrote, “They try so hard to hide her inability to dance, it’s so embarrassing at this point.” One user joked, “Can someone check that hero’s pulse?” referring to Lakshya’s character being shown as awestruck in the scene.
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A user who claimed to have trained in Bharatnatyam for six years posted, “As someone who has learned Bharatnatyam for 6 years, what tomfoolery is this.”
Some comments targeted both Ananya and the film’s creative team for what they called disrespect to a classical art form with a rich and ancient legacy. One post read, “Bharatanatyam survived kingdoms, invasions, and centuries… only to meet its toughest challenge in 2026.”
Prominent voices join the debate
Congress spokesperson Dr. Shama Mohamed tweeted that Ananya had “killed” her favourite dance form. Classical dancer Anita Ratnam remarked that the performance looked like Bharatnatyam was being “held hostage.”
Ananya Pandey has killed my favorite dance form – Bharatnatyam! I have learnt it from the age of 7 to the age of 13 – did my arangetram too in kuwait & never looked back.
Classical dance needs to be studied over a period of time & cant be manufactured for Ms Pandey! Please dont…— Dr. Shama Mohamed (@drshamamohd) May 24, 2026
As the trolling grew, users began sharing clips of Sai Pallavi from ‘Shyam Singha Roy’ and Sridevi from ‘Jaag Utha Insan’ to argue how classical dance should be portrayed on screen.
Some came to her defence
Not everyone on social media agreed with the criticism. Several users pointed out that the sequence was written as a fusion number and not a formal classical recital.
Some argued that the character Chandni was not meant to be a trained dancer, and that the backlash was excessive.
Others noted that the trolling carried undertones of the same nepotism debate that has followed Ananya since her debut in 2019.
Box office numbers
Despite the controversy, the film has been drawing audiences. On its third day in theatres, ‘Chand Mera Dil’ was showing across 2,838 screens nationwide. The total India gross at that point had reached an estimated Rs 10.68 crore, with a net figure of Rs 9.01 crore. By the first weekend, the film had crossed the Rs 11 crore mark in India and the Rs 13 crore mark worldwide.
Neither Ananya Panday nor the film’s director Vivek Soni has responded publicly to the trolling as of the time of writing.
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