Earlier this week, on Tuesday to be precise, chaos erupted at Mumbai's Versova Metro station. The reason? Ananya Panday, along with director Collin D'Cunha and co-stars Lisa Mishra, Niharika Lyra Dutt, Muskkaan Jaferi, Gurfateh Pirzada, Vihaan Samat, and Varun Sood, boarded the 12:40 pm train. They were heading to the Western Express Highway (WEH) station to promote Prime Video's new original series Call Me Bae.
When a new show is about to launch, the marketing team has to get creative to generate buzz. For the cast of Prime Video's latest comedy drama series Call Me Bae, that meant taking their promotional efforts to an unexpected venue—the Mumbai Metro One system.
If you're a frequent metro commuter in Mumbai, it was impossible to miss the Call Me Bae takeover at both the stations. From overhead screens at the station playing the trailer to branded trains and even their inside handrails, the branding paraphernalia was everywhere.
The energy was high as the cast made their way onto the metro, drawing stares and cheers from surprised commuters and paparazzi. Activity zones were also created at the destination station for photo ops.
Amidst all the excitement from them and the cast alike (it was the first metro train ride for some of the cast!), I had a chance to sit down with Panday and the talented ensemble along with the director to get some exclusive scoop on their new show and its characters.
A modern take on classic chick flicks and some dating advice
Once we were all settled in and the metro started its journey from Versova, Panday kicked things off by telling us about the show and her character. “My character Bella Chowdhary, aka Bae suddenly finds herself being downsized from heiress to hustler and then begins her riches-to-rags story. Bae discovers that her most valuable assets are her street smarts and style as she moves to a new city, Mumbai where she tries to build a new life for herself. There’s more to Bae than what meets the eye and that is what makes her journey compelling and intriguing. Despite the challenges, she remains true to herself, retaining her innocence and zest for life. This authenticity is what drew me to the role.”
When asked how the show reminds her of classic chick flicks and early 2000s rom-coms like she mentioned at the trailer launch, she says, “I wasn’t channeling any specific character from those but some of my favourites are Alexis (Schitt’’s Creek), Cher (Clueless), Regina George (Mean Girls), Aisha (Aisha) and Poo (Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham), obviously. But my character Bae is wonderfully, originally herself."
Bae is to GenZ, what Poo was to Millenials
She also hopes that Bae can be to GenZ, what Poo was to the earlier generation. When asked what dating advice she would give this generation, given her character’s relationship troubles in the show (her fiancé breaks up with her), Panday deadpanned “I don’t think anyone should take Bae’s advice, she’s a little bit of a mess in that regard. But if you ask me, I’d say follow your heart and remember that it’s okay to make mistakes.”
OTT firsts for the lead actress and director
Call Me Bae being Panday’s first web series, was quite different from shooting for a movie. She says, “When working on an 8-episode series like this, you get more time to develop your character. You can dive deep into their story to showcase all their shades and that was a great experience.”
Call Me Bae also marks director Collin D’Cunha’s debut as the director of an entire series. Echoing Panday’s sentiment, he says, “The transition was great because while writing for a show, you get to develop your character arcs a lot more since you have multiple episodes to show their journey. As a director, that's the dream! But the most challenging part is also the volume of direction required as a series like this is almost the length of two feature films."
When asked to describe the show in just 5 words, D’Cunha summed it up as “Fun, fresh, thoughtful, inspiring, fashionable.”
To get a better sense of the talented ensemble and watch their chemistry first-hand, I fired off a few rapid fire questions as they all sat in the boogie waiting for their destination:
Rapid Fire
In as little words as possible, tell me about your characters
- Pirzada: Brute but very caring.
- Samat: Confident, sure, entitled, a brat but also a good guy at the same time.
- Jaferi: Jugaadu mastani.
- Sood: Endearing and innocent.
- Dutt: Ditsy control freak.
- Panday: Drama and kind.
- Mishra: Boss and empathetic.
The show also is about Bae’s move to Mumbai, what is each of your favourite spot in Mumbai?
- Panday: Now that I’m here I actually love the metro!
- Mishra: Honestly, I agree, this is my first metro experience and I am loving it! New fave!
- Dutt: I love the vibes in South Bombay, especially Colaba.
- Pirzada: Soho House.
- Samat: My home.
- Sood: Boojee Café.
The show has a strong focus on fashion, what item from any character's wardrobe you’d want for yourselves?
- Panday: I stole two things from set actually: a swim suit and a sweatshirt that says ‘Elvis’ at the front because I just love him.
- Mishra: Veer’s Versace robe, which fun fact, is actually Karan Johar’s Versace robe and also what Rocky Randhawa wore! So, there are a lot of cross-references there.
- Dutt: The cheetah costume or the alien costume that you’ll see in the show.
The announcement “Next station Western Express Highway, doors will open on the left” began. Our destination was nearing and I couldn’t get down without asking them about their Amazon shopping carts and Prime Video watch lists.
What was your last purchase on Amazon.in?
- Panday: I bought some books on Amazon.
- Mishra: I got some hair wax recently.
- Jaferi: I got a cute heart shaped waffle maker.
- Samat: I placed an order for an air purifier yesterday.
- Pirzada: Some knee pads for my dogs.
- Sood: I got a new videogame for my Nintendo Switch.
And what’s currently on their Prime Video watch lists?
The answer was unanimous “Call Me Bae, every day!”
The cast then went on to engage with some fans and paparazzi waiting for them at WEH while I evaded all the crowd to take the next metro home.
Call Me Bae is now streaming exclusively on Prime Video. Watch here.
