Ananya Panday Takes on Prime Video’s ‘Call Me Bae’

Ananya Panday couldn’t put down the script for “Call Me Bae” — literally. “I finished reading all eight episodes in a single night because I couldn’t stop,” the Bollywood star told Variety about her recent Prime Video series.

Written by Ishita Moitra, Samina Motlekar and Rohit Nair, “Call Me Bae” tells the story of Bae, a young woman who’s downsized from heiress to hustler after a scandal. She learns that her most precious assets will not be her diamonds, but her street smarts and her style. Broke, but refusing to be broken, she navigates the newsrooms of Mumbai, finding beaus, sisterhood and her higher self. Karan Johar, Apoorva Mehta and Somen Mishra, as executive producers for his or her Dharmatic Entertainment, give a glitzy pedigree to the Hindi-language series.

Directed by Collin D’Cunha, the script struck a chord with Panday from the beginning. “For me as an actor, the largest telling sign is my first response and my first instinct after reading something — if I just feel like I actually have to be an element of the story,” she explained. The actor praised the script’s balance, noting, “There’s a certain tone, by way of the lightness and the humor, and the chick-flick quality that it has, nevertheless it also really says something at the tip of it.”

The ensemble supporting forged includes Vir Das, Gurfateh Pirzada, Varun Sood, Vihaan Samat, Muskkaan Jaferi, Niharika Lyra Dutt, Lisa Mishra and Mini Mathur, while Panday plays the lead role, Bella ‘Bae’ Chowdhary. The series format allowed Panday to dive deep into her character. “It’s an enormous responsibility, nevertheless it’s also a privilege for an actor to try this,” she said of leading the show.

Preparation for the role involved extensive table reads with the ensemble forged, which Panday described as crucial given the assorted character dynamics at play. She also worked closely with director D’Cunha to develop a powerful backstory for Bella. “Colin and I [were] just sitting and trying to know why is she the way in which she is,” Panday said. “She’s talking to her bags, and that could appear ridiculous on a primary viewing, but then if you understand that, because she’s lonely and she or he’s not had someone who’s understood her growing up, you then sort of understand why she’s the way in which she is.”

Panday, daughter of actor Chunky Panday and costume designer Bhavna Pandey, has grown up within the limelight. Nevertheless, she notes that her character Bella’s privileged background differs from her own experiences. “Despite the fact that Bella is privileged, she’s a distinct sort of privileged. She comes from an uber-rich family in Delhi, and even along with her privilege, she has a number of regressive and patriarchal traits,” Panday said. “In our family, that will not be something that I’ve experienced, because my home has been extremely liberal in that sense, the way in which my dad has raised my sister and I.”

While “Call Me Bae” appears to attract inspiration from popular chick flicks, D’Cunha encouraged Panday to avoid imitating existing performances. “Moderately than telling me to observe something, he told me to steer clear of it more in order that I don’t attempt to copy or imitate anything,” Panday revealed.

Panday made her Bollywood debut in 2019 with Karan Johar’s “Student of the Yr 2,” alongside Tiger Shroff and Tara Sutaria. She followed this with roles in “Pati Patni Aur Woh” (2019) and “Khaali Peeli” (2020). Her performance in “Gehraiyaan” (2022), directed by Shakun Batra, earned critical acclaim, showcasing her ability to tackle more complex, dramatic roles.

As a youth icon with hundreds of thousands of followers, Panday is mindful of her influence. “You understand how Uncle Ben in ‘Spider-Man’ said ‘with great power comes great responsibility.’ I do feel that fairly often if you just see that number on Instagram,” she reflected. This awareness of social media’s impact was also central to her 2023 Netflix film “Kho Gaye Hum Kahan,” which explores the consequences of digital life on young adults. “I try to not take it too seriously, but I also understand my responsibility at the tip of the day.”

Panday hopes viewers will discover the layers beneath Bella’s surface. “People have already form of formed assumptions about her from the trailer and the posters and whatever they’ve seen. But I feel like once they watch the show, they’ll discover that there’s so way more to her.”

“Call Me Bae” ends on a cliffhanger, leaving the door open for potential future seasons. “We aren’t done with the show and these characters, and we’re almost waiting to return back,” Panday said. “If the audience loves it enough, which hopefully they do, then we’ll be greater than blissful to return back.”

Along with “Call Me Bae,” Panday stars in “CTRL,” a cyber thriller directed by Vikramaditya Motwane, set to premiere on Netflix on Oct. 4.

“Call Me Bae” streams on Prime Video from Sept. 6.