Call Me Bae Review: Ananya Panday Starrer Redefines Behen-Code But Struggles With Superficial Sub-Plots!
Directed by Collin D'Cunha, Call Me Bae is an engaging watch despite the exaggerations!
3.5 / 5
Female friendships, dig at the deplorable condition of Indian broadcast media, highlighting safety concerns for female professionals and the complexities of romantic relationships in modern times are some areas that are explored enough in films. Then what is new in Ananya Panday starrer Call Me Bae? The eight-episode series directed by Collin D’Cunha and written by the trio of Ishita Moitra, Samina Motlekar and Rohit Nair explores the story of a rich South Delhi girl who sets out on a journey of self-discovery after an unexpected turn of events leaves her with no other choice! Ananya Panday’s unmissable performance as Bae and subtle social commentaries with a spin of sass make the series a binge-worthy watch. However, the series struggles desperately to touch upon some raging issues like Me Too and privacy violations only to end up making it look unrealistic and too convenient for the plot. Spoiler alert!
Plot
Call Me Bae follows the story of a South Delhi girl Bella Chowdhary (Ananya Panday) or Bae whose husband abandons her after she makes the terrible mistake of cheating on him. She seeks shelter at her parents’ house but receives the same kind of treatment from them as well. Heartbroken but not a damsel in distress, Bella decides to take charge of her life and embark on the journey of self-discovery after failed attempts of reconciliation with her husband (Vihaan Samat) and her own family.
For this big jump in life, Bella comes to Mumbai with her set of Louis Vuitton bags (although, I wonder how she paid for the extra luggage). Anyway, in Mumbai, Bella meets Saira (Muskkaan Jaferi) who introduces her to the concept of a rickshaw (Bae calls it a more breezy version of Mini Cooper, btw) among other things. Bella ends up getting a job as an intern under a known journalist (Gurfateh Pirzada) at a famous broadcasting station whose face is Satyajit (Vir Das). From hereon, Bella’s journey as a journo begins and she cracks the big case of Me Too to become a sensation. The role of social media is given a lot of importance in the series and it also has an interesting cameo (which I am kind of tempted to talk about).
Positives!
Performances
Definitely Ananya Panday! Bella is a chirpy and sassy South Delhi girl who uses her expertise derived from the fancy one-month courses to navigate the difficulties in her personal and professional life. Ananya Panday is most definitely the perfect fit for the character and she only adds more charm to it. The actor imbibes and delivers the essence of Bella till the very end with some evident changes in her personality from a posh South Delhi girl to a woman living on her terms in Mumbai. Ananya Panday is expressive throughout even when the camera is not on her, basically, she never goes unnoticed.
Muskkaan Jaferi is natural in her element as Saira, a good vibrant friend who struggles with the bad habit of gambling. Muskkaan Jaferi successfully makes us have a love-hate relationship with her character!
Vir Das as Satyajit, the infamous host of Prime Time is a parody character of a news anchor in today’s time, who believes in character assassination rather than real journalism. We have seen such characters before but Vir Das takes it to another level with a convincing approach to the character. It was refreshing to see him play Satyajit.
Niharika Lyra Dutt, Lisa Mishra, Gurfateh Pirzada and Varun Sood have delivered decent performances in Call Me Bae.
Writing
The writing by Ishita Moitra, Samina Motlekar and Rohit Nair is commendable. Despite some major flaws that made the narrative too convenient, the series also redefines themes of sisterhood and individuality, but most importantly characters taking accountability for ruining relationships (even if they were hopeless cases). Ananya Panday’s character Bae goes through a huge transformation as a person but does not lose her charm and quirky personality as the South Delhi girl and uses her understanding of the world to the best of its potential. I guess, this is why we loved Bae the most! The writers gave special attention to making female friendships empowering and realistic (to a lot of extent). The dynamic between Bae and Tamarraah (Niharika Lyra Dutt) changes over time. From co-workers to roommates, their bond was quite heartwarming to watch. The social commentaries were quite cleverly incorporated in the series and I would take the liberty to say that it also added a bit of comic relief to the plot.
The series is not just about Bae finding the purpose to her life, but eventually turns out to be the journey of self-reflection for each character, majorly for the female characters. The message that women should keep empowering each other along their journey was quite distinctly delivered in the series, consciously opposing the idea of pitting women against each other. And it was refreshing to see that!
An Interesting Cameo
Well-known Indian journalist Faye D’Souza made her acting debut in Call Me Bae. Her strong and impactful appearance stayed with me for a while!
Less-Preachy More Fun
Call Me Bae is a fun watch considering that the efforts to approach problematic issues in society and media were mostly made through comic one-liners or caricaturist characters.
However, having said that, Call Me Bae on some occasions takes too much liberty to deal with serious issues very superficially. After Bella takes the job of social media intern, she gets an anonymous lead on the Me Too case where an actress makes harassment allegations against a well-known businessman. Bella and her girl gang investigate the case and finally convince the victim to speak about it, and voice out her ordeal on social media. The series refuses to acknowledge the gravity of this issue and proposes an easy route to tackle the situation. It is unrealistic and quite hard to digest, tbh!
Also, the series deals with the concerns over privacy violations and how data is manipulated by powerful people to make character assassinations. However, this part of the storyline does not create much impact instead boils down to becoming yet another loosely structured sub-plot.
In some places the series made me question the practicality of the plot, for starters, Bella easily finding herself a job in broadcasting media through a viral video. I mean, while social media is quite a powerful tool in today’s time, Call Me Bae goes to the point where it borderline exaggerates the positives of it. The too-convenient plot bothered me NGL!
Also, it would have been fun to see some of the individual journeys of other characters instead of making it co-dependent on Bella. There was potential but the series instead focused its attention on making it all about Bae’s journey
The music album of Call Me Bae is quite average and does not have a huge impact other than just being a background score in the series.
Verdict: Sassy Spin On Behen-Code, Ananya Panday Is Unmissable
Call Me Bae is currently streaming on Prime Video. The series directed by Collin D’Cunha stars Ananya Panday in the lead role. The actor is quite delightful to watch and is like a breath of fresh air as Bella Chowdhary. We can give her the credit of making the series a binge-worthy watch. The supporting cast is decent. The direction and writing are interesting and it gives a sassy spin to the narrative through social commentaries and quirky characters. The too-convenient storyline can be bothersome and the one-character-driven narrative is a drawback too! However, you can watch this eight-episode series with your girl gang over the weekend!
First Published: September 06, 2024 12:38 AM
