PRIYANKA BANERJEE

The first time I saw Panks, she had a cute little hairband on and was dressed like Blair from gossip girl. She walked into my 9th grade classroom, half confident half nervous. I was “directed” by my principal to be “friends” with her and show her around (as if such directives are normal for 14-15 year olds)!

From my first few interactions, I learnt two things about her - one, she’s a confident young girl who is extremely sure of her passion and craft, and two, she’s a weirdo (just like me). Over the first few weeks, we hit it off like a house on fire! (I guess that directive did work out) She was my source of entertainment, my partner in swooning over Nathan (if you don’t know who he is, boy, you’ve had a sad childhood) and someone I could have incredibly intense and deep conversations one minute, and laugh like chipmunks the next.

Panks has been my soul sister since 2010, and as we mark 10 years of our beautiful sisterhood, I can’t feel more fortunate for having the opportunity to witness this beautiful human being grow into the incredibly intelligent, sensitive, confident, successful and graceful writer, director, actor, dancer, singer. Her ability to create moving and nuanced short movies to comment on the implications of a heinous crime so commonplace in India, makes me beam with pride and awe. Her passion for her craft is so inspiring and I can’t wait to benefit from all the perks of having the Hindi Industry’s next big and sane writer-director as my best friend.

Written by Yashasvi Kathotia