Updated On: 12 August, 2025 12:57 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Ananya Panday revealed that during their school days, Sara Ali Khan didn’t even know her name and would just call her “aye girl.” The two are now friends, with Sara warmly welcoming Ananya into the industry after her debut

Sara Ali Khan and Ananya Panday
Sara Ali Khan turns a year older today, and we look back at her school days- not from her perspective, but from that of her fellow schoolmate Ananya Panday, who is now an established actress. While Sara and Ananya are friends now, the latter revealed in an interview on mid-day’s Sit With Hitlist that Sara didn’t even know her name in school.
Recalling what Sara was like back then, Ananya Panday said, “Sara in school was very much like she is now outspoken but back then, she was even more outspoken. She was always this myth. I would actually hide from her in school because I used to be terrified. If she was walking down a certain staircase, I would take another one, because she would say anything. She’s moohfat even now, but in school, she was even more so and would really say anything. I used to think, ‘She’s going to say something about me.’”
Ananya clarified that although it wouldn’t count as ragging, Sara didn’t even bother to know her name. She explained, “We did a play together in school. She was the main lead, and I was just holding her umbrella or something in the background, and she wouldn’t bother to know my name. She would just say, ‘Aye girl, come here.’ I don’t think it was because my name started with A — she genuinely didn’t know it. Now when I tell her, she says, ‘What rubbish, I treated you so well,’ but she really didn’t know my name in school.”