Veteran Bharatanatyam dancer Ridhima Pandit has taken a sharp dig at actor Ananya Panday for her Bharatanatyam fusion dance in the film Chand Mera Dil, questioning her “guts” to put such a performance in the public eye. The controversy started after a short clip of Ananya performing a fusion of Bharatanatyam with hip‑hop and locking went viral, and many viewers, including classical dancers, began criticising the sequence for appearing to mock a centuries‑old classical art form.
Ridhima Pandit, who has trained in Bharatanatyam herself, reacted strongly to the clip, saying that Ananya lacked the courage and understanding required to fuse Bharatanatyam with modern styles in such a public platform. She argued that Ananya did not have the training or the depth to represent the art form, yet she still chose to perform it in a way that felt disrespectful to practitioners who have dedicated years to mastering the classical idiom. Her remarks have further fuelled the debate about who gets to perform classical dance on screen and what responsibility creators have toward the art form.
While some dancers and netizens have backed Ridhima’s stance, calling the sequence a “catastrophic misunderstanding” of Bharatanatyam, others have defended Ananya, pointing out that the scene was clearly presented as a fusion act and not a pure Bharatanatyam recital. Ananya’s father, Chunky Panday, has also defended his daughter, saying the performance was “completely misunderstood” and was meant to resemble a college cultural festival act rather than a traditional Bharatanatyam presentation. He urged audiences to watch the sequence in the context of the film instead of judging it in isolation.
The clash between Ridhima Pandit’s criticism, the backing Ananya is getting from some corners, and the intense online trolling has now turned the Chand Mera Dil dance clip into a flashpoint for a larger conversation about classical art, fusion, consent, and respect. The debate is no longer just about one performance; it has become a broader discussion about how Bollywood uses classical forms, whether stars should be held accountable for creative decisions made by choreographers and directors, and how much latitude the industry should have when it blends tradition with commercial entertainment.