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Director Collin D’Cunha manages to create a strong sense of sisterhood, the journey of Ananya Pandey’s Bae in carving her own identity comes across as sanitized but still the show has enough spunk

Starcast: Ananya Pandey, Muskkaan Jaferi, Gurfateh Pirzada, Varun Sood, Vihaan Samrat, Vir Das and others

Story: Ishita Moitra, Samina Motlekar and Rohit Nair

Director: Collin D’ Cunha

Producers: Karan Johar, Apoorva Mehta and Somen Mishra

Production Company: Dharmatic Entertainment

No of episodes: 8

Streaming site: Amazon Prime

Music: Rochak Kohli

Collin D’Cunha’s Call Me Bae focuses on the transformation of a rich housewife Bella aka Bae (Ananya Pandey). The show begins with Bae getting ousted from her sasural when she is caught getting cozy with the gym trainer played by Varun Sood. From here we go to a brief flashback establishing her rich lifestyle. Mini Mathur plays Bae’s mother Gayatri. She takes it upon herself to set the daughter’s marriage with an equally rich guy Agastya (Vihaan Samrat). Their relationship starts off a great note, but soon the marriage takes a big hit because of Agastya’s detachment. It is during this time that Bae falls for Varun Sood’s Prince Bhasin. What adds to Bae’s woes is the attitude of her mother who distances herself. Now Bae has to fend for herself and in this process her path crosses with that of Satyajit Sen (a delightful Vir Das). Satyajit Sen is a news anchor modeled on the likes of Arunav Goswami. Aiding Bae in the growth is Muskkaan Jaferi’s Saira Ali.

Call Me Bae focuses on the transformation of a rich housewife Bella aka Bae

Bae’s path crosses with Satyajit Sen (Vir Das)

First and foremost, the tonality of Call Me Bae is not of the typical riches to rags storylines. Ananya Pandey’s Bae doesn’t sleep on a footpath and nor do we see her hustle in local trains. The process of finding a place and job doesn’t become a big hassle. There is a lot of tongue in cheek humor in the way the writers have written Bella. Once the viewers get adjusted to this tonality there is quite a bit to enjoy.

What makes the series work in spite of the sanitized situations is the characterization of Bella coupled with Ananya Pandey’s winsome act. Some of Bella’s quirks jell perfectly with the personality of Ananya and the actress raises many chuckles in portraying Bella’s cluelessness. One of the humorous bits include a scene where Bella sprays hand sanitizer on a beach bench. At the same time, she also aces the emotional scenes like the one where Bella sees her husband Agastya being close to another girl. The process of Bella becoming a more layered person has been wonderfully portrayed by the actress. Also, to the credit of Ishita Moitra and co Bella doesn’t drastically transform into a down to earth person. Her quirky nature is very much there but at the same time there is a subtle growth.

What also works for the series is the camaraderie between Ananya Pandey and Muskkaan Jaferi. Muskkaan Jaferi’s character enters at a crucial point and soon becomes an important ally. Muskkaan Jaferi’s comic timing is simply wonderful, her one liners add a lot to the show. Through her performance Muskkaan Jaferi makes you wish that you also had a strong friend like her.

Vir Das’s act of an arrogant and oversmart journalist is clearly reminiscent of Arunav Goswami’s antics. The character is more of a caricature but still Vir Das does a splendid job in making the viewers detest him. There is a devilish glee in the way Vir portrays him. The confrontation scenes between Ananya and Vir spice up the show in a major way.

Vir Das as Satyajit Sen

Ananya Pandey and Vir Das confrontation scene

Mention must be also made of the equation between the characters of Ananya Pandey and Gurfateh Pirzada. Gurfateh Pirzada plays Bella’s colleague Neel. Neel also contributes significantly to Bella’s progress, there is also a cute love story. Gurfateh Pirzada pitches in a fine performance making his presence amply felt. Varun Sood as the lovable gym trainer also has his moments.

As mentioned in the beginning director Collin D’ Cunha brings a strong sense of sisterhood. This sisterhood is reflected through not just the track of Muskkaan Jaferi. There is also Niharika Lyra Dutt as Tammarrah Lisa Mishra as Harleen. These two women also become an important part of Bella’s life.

Towards the end the series gets into a serious territory of Me Too and also data privacy. These important themes needed stronger writing, also the cinematic liberties taken by Colllin D’Cunha here becomes hard to digest. Thankfully though the series doesn’t get into a preachy zone. The costumes of Ananya go perfectly well with the pitch of the series. initially they are very glitzy and over the top but in the later episodes they are more subdued.

Rochak Kohli’s music has a good mix of fun and emotional songs particular mention must be made of Churaaiyaan.

Ananya Pandey in Churaaiyaan

Call Me Bae is a perfect watch for those like frothy entertainment without going very deep.