Call Me Bae review: Be ready to get swayed away by Ananya Panday's 'bae-misaal’ performance
Call Me Bae
Born to a rich family and in a world where social media reigns supreme, Ananya Panday builds up her ‘followers’ from scratch
Gone are the times when the media was the undisputed king which mirrored reality. Giving media apt company (and also competition) is none other than its counterpart- social media. And when the two join hands, the end result is nothing but brutally lethal. Well… that’s what the Ananya Panday starrer ‘Call Me Bae’, in a nutshell, is all about!
The eight-part series starts off with Bella Chowdhary aka Bae (Ananya Panday) being thrown out of her 'palatially palatial' in-laws’ house by her husband Agastya Chowdhary (Vihaan Samat). It is the same place where almost every single object screamed ‘Brand’ (with a capital B). It’s also the same house which was ‘home’ to seven luxury cars, one chopper and a private jet … all of which belonged to Bae!
Also Read: Call Me Bae: Sara Ali Khan cheers her BFF Ananya Panday on her OTT debut
Since she is left with nowhere to go, Bae reaches her maternal house… only to be disowned by her parents as well! For starters, she has the extremely stunning Gayatri (Mini Mathur) as her mother. Bae then takes the audiences through the series of events which led to her being thrown out of her in-law’s house.
Looking back, Bae recalls her childhood where her brother Samar always had the eternal company of their father, she had the company of ‘good looks, good looks and good looks’. As she grows up, her mother hatches a plan (read ‘strategy) for Bae to fall in love with Agastya, who happens to be the son of a multi billionaire! Getting them married off would actually save Bae’s family from filing for bankruptcy.
What follows this is a fairy tale wedding at Lake Como, which consists of 15 events, including a ‘royal princess gone goth’ themed sangeet party as well! After three years of being married, Bae starts feeling that her marriage has now become a reversed fairy tale, where all the happiness had started going downhill, thanks to Agastya’s super busy schedule, which prevents him from giving some ‘Bae-time’!
That’s when she comes across Prince (Varun Sood), a celebrity trainer. Just a couple of ‘work out session meetings’ with Prince eventually finds Bae in his arms, something that Agastya finds out while hosting his foreign delegates. This is what triggers the break up between Bae and Agastya.
After the break-up, a chance meeting with an eccentric old lady in a police station (you need to see the series to find out how she reaches there!), brings Bae to the city of dreams- Mumbai. After the initial bit of 'common man struggles' Bae not only finds a job as an intern in a leading TV channel, but also her place under the sun.
Little does she know that, it is here in Mumbai, where she will become a rockstar in the field of journalism, with a super generous help of social media journalism as well! Just as when one good (and also bad) thing leads to the other, Bae gets a factually shocking video by an anonymous lady, who has some super confidential information about exposing the CEO of a leading cellular company, who is also harbouring political ambitions.
In what way does the ‘intern’ Bae unearth the dirty secrets of the cellular company’s CEO and that too risking her job, does she find love all over again, will her parents and in-laws accept her back and does Bae get to know the sender of the mysterious video is what forms the rest of the super interesting series.
First things first. After having arrived in Bollywood with Student Of The Year 2, Ananya Panday has arrived in OTT space as well with Call Me Bae! There just could not have been a perfect launch pad for her in the OTT space except Call Me Bae. Right from the word go, she has your undivided attention which remains undistracted till the end!
What works in the favour of the Ananya Panday led series is its super fresh content which is very today and very relatable. On the flip side, it’s a debatable question whether this series will only appeal to the present generation or will it equally appeal to the ‘older gen’ as well! In addition to the premise of the series, it’s also the dialogues which are laced with creative one liners that ensures a broad smile on the faces of the audiences.
Full marks to the director Colin D'Cunha as well as the ‘creator’ Ishita Moitra for taking the audiences to a make-believe world of ‘Bae’! There could have been many places where the series could have gone astray. But, thanks to Colin’s directorial ability to turn a simple idea into a ‘bae-shumaar’ series is definitely praiseworthy.
Full marks to the person in charge of the cinematography. What is likeable about the series’ music is that it's not at all thrusted. In other words, the tracks simply and flawlessly merge with the narrative, even though most of the tracks have a recall value. On the other hand, the background music is absolutely on-point. Ditto for the editing (a bunch of places notwithstanding though).
As for the performances, Call Me Bae is an out and out Ananya Panday’s show all the way. Even though there are many places where one is reminded of a certain (real-life) Sonam Kapoor and also (real-life) Poo, Ananya girl pulls it off with utmost confidence. Be it yearning for love, her guilty repentance, her overall body language, Ananya has simply nailed it! As said earlier, there could not have been a better series for her on OTT than Call Me Bae.
There are many names in the race for the second spot. Being fair to them all, almost everyone did a great job. Be it Vihaan Samat, Vir Das, Mini Mathur, Gurfateh Pirzada, Varun Sood, Muskkaan Jaferi, Lisa Mishra and others... Each of them very meticulously help the series to move forward.
As said earlier, Call Me Bae is bound to appeal to the Gen-Z and the millennials… as they call it. Since the series has way too many aspirational values, one can expect immense word of mouth for the same. All in all, Call Me Bae definitely calls for a one-time watch at least! Toodles…