Ananya Panday is all set for her OTT debut with the upcoming series Call Me Bae. On Tuesday, the trailer was unveiled with a grand launch in Mumbai, with The Free Press Journal in attendance. The actress plays the role of South Delhi heiress Bella 'Bae' Chowdhury, who becomes a hustler. Karan Johar's Dharmatic Entertainment backs the series and Collin D’Cunha has directed it.
At the event, Karan Johar mentioned that if Rohan Raichand (Hrithik Roshan) and Pooja Raichand, also known as Poo (Kareena Kapoor Khan), had a daughter in Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, she would have been Bella, aka Bae. He added, "Bae is a glorious gem. Where Poo ends, Bae takes off. That's the best way I can describe it. Because when you saw the character of Poo, it started with all the fun and games. And then she contributes to the emotional avatars of the ongoings in Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham."
"Similarly, while you might look at the show and have another perspective that it's fun, cool, hip and fashionable, it's saying a lot. Ananya’s character in this show is a 2.0 version of Pooh. I give full credit to Ishita Moitra, who is the creator of the show," said Johar.
Further, Panday said that she never made fun of her character, Bae. "There is a scene where she talks to the fridge, and she is getting the fridge to answer. Everyone at the reading table was like, 'What is she doing?' I went with it and believed what she was doing. And that is what is important: to not judge her character. She is a very positive person. I have never seen her blonde. Her best quality is that she never judges a person. She always says that kindness is cool and she never changes as a person, even after she transforms. I would say don't judge a book by its cover or in real life. That is a lesson I have taken from Bae."
In the trailer, in the end, Call Me Bae's trailer features the infamous Siddhant Chaturvedi 'struggle' comment aimed at Ananya. When asked about what she struggles with the most, the actress said, "Honestly, we have made fun of that line. I said it five years ago. I am just trying to keep my head down and work, so there is no struggle. I am doing fine."
Earlier, Panday said that Bae is shades of Clueless, Schitt's Creek and some of Nancy Drew. Responding to this, the actress said, "What I meant by that is, it's an amalgamation of all these chick flick kind of movies that I loved growing up. Growing up, there was Pooh, who is iconic. I dressed up as Pooh two years ago. Even now, I dress up like her. I have, like, all the quotes on my mirror, so she's left a print on me."
"And it's like a mix of Schitt's Creek, Clueless, Aisha, Nancy, and all these fun shows. It's very light; it's a young adult; it's happy; it's fun. Even though Bae has a bit of all of these characters, she's like a fully open person. She's all action, all heart and she's a lot of fun, so I hope people love her as much as I do," Ananya concluded.
Call Me Bae also features Vir Das, Gurfateh Pirzada, Varun Sood, Vihaan Samat, Muskkaan Jaferi, Niharika Lyra Dutt, Lisa Mishra and Mini Mathur. The series is scheduled to premiere on Prime Video on September 6, 2024.
