What Is the Story About?
Due to a big mess-up, Bella gets disowned by her husband and family and has her life downgraded to a hustler from a heiress. This riches to rags coming off age story has street-smart Bella aka Bae navigating her lows through fast paced Mumbai’s newsrooms, finding new friends and foes as she struggles for that one epic news break.
Performances?
Call Me Bae has Ananya Panday playing Bella aka Bae, a delusional rich brat who actually needs to touch grass…and she eventually does have an evolution. The actress channelises and feeds off Bae’s energy much like her own off-screen persona and makes the most out of it. She’s delightful as a frivolous, funny rich-kid who faces a life of inconvenience where she has her own back as much as her trustworthy friends’.
Vir Das as the arrogant and cocky Satyajit Sen is equally intresting in his limited screen-time. The character is sketched out to replicate one of the most controversial TV journalists of our era (the meta references are legit funny). His combination scenes with Ananya are actually funny.
Muskkaan Jaferi‘s Saira and Niharika Dutt‘s Tamaraah aid Bae like the strong sis-code the movie frequently advocates for. Sayani Gupta is pitch perfect in a cameo role that comes at the highest moment of the show. Gurfateh Pirzada, Varun Sood and Vihaan Samat have lesser screen-time and their roles are not impactful except for aiding Bae’s growth as a person.
Analysis
Created and written by Ishita Moitra, co-written by Samina Motlekar and Rohit Nair and directed by Collin D’Cunha, Call Me Bae is a comedy drama that serves as an unserious coming off age tale of a fallen South Delhi socialite as she tries to make a life of her own in Mumbai’s bustling newsrooms.
Call Me Bae begins with Bae aka Bella narrating about her Cinderella-in-reverse story. This is followed by a quick flash-back to Bella, her rich family and how her socialite life in South Delhi was all about having a rich lifestyle, getting married to Agastya (a rich heir to a rich businessman) and living a life of superficial happiness.
As an escapade from the lingering loneliness, Bae decides to cheat on her husband with her gym trainer ‘Prince’. She predictably gets caught in the act and gets disowned by her family and friends. Her brother and soon-to-be-ex-husband instructs her to lie low whilst covering up for the disgrace she brought upon the family and business.
Unable to recover from the pain and insult, she decides to move to Mumbai and start afresh with empty bank-balance and frozen credit cards. She makes genuine friends and relationships on the way and also takes up the job of a journalist intern at a prestigious TV channel. There begins Bae’s journey of purpose.
Call Me Bae is strongly fuelled by Ananya Panday’s offscreen persona and the ‘struggle memes’ she was subjected to..in a good way. Here’s a character – very similar to what she is in real life and a convenient journey (though frivolous enough) through self-deprecating humour to redeem herself and touch some grass.
In Call Me Bae, besides Ananya’s believability as the underestimated bimbo, Vir Das’ cocky sensationalist TV Anchor also pumps the meta-meter to guilt-binge-watch levels. However, some of the jokes do not land and are far-fetched considering its surface level politics. For eg: the phrase ‘Posh Lives Matter’ is offensive despite contextual reasons.
Call Me Bae has a very convenient writing, predictable journey for its main character and shallow supporting characters.The show tries to ground its protagonist so bad but the writing refuses to ground itself. Although Call Me Bae tries to be a spoof, it doesn’t really come across as one despite all the self-deprecating digs Bae takes on herself.
Arguably, the strongest asset of the show is Bella’s silliness. The tongue-in-cheek humour, meta references and all that bling are bonuses. Call Me Bae is no Emily in Paris level fluff or Little Things level endearing, but is certainly engaging enough for a guilty watch.
Music and Other Departments?
Niranjan Martin’s cinematography for Call Me Bae is nothing exceptional in comparison to shows like Little Things that carried similar vibes. The music and sound department doesn’t stand out much either.
Highlights?
Ananya Panday & Vir Das
meta references
tongue-in-cheek humour
Drawbacks?
Convenient writing
Shallow supporting character-arcs
Cinematography
Did I Enjoy It?
Yes, in parts.
Will You Recommend It?
Yes, but with certain reservations. Call Me Bae is a strictly guilt-binge show that has nothing more to offer.
Call Me Bae Series Review by Binged Bureau
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