EXCLUSIVE | Ananya Panday on Amazon Prime Video's show 'Call Me Bae': 'My character is very cheap, had a lot of fun playing this because..."

In the heart of the bustling city that never sleeps, Mumbai’s vibrant energy definitely matches Bae’s unstoppable spirit as she ‘primes’ herself the hustle of Mumbai’s bustling streets. But this isn’t just another glam adventure—Bae’s about to dive into the ‘regular person struggle’ like never before.

And Ananya Panday, who gears up for Call Me Bae that streams on Amazon Prime Video IN from September 6, spoke exclusively to Firstpost and had the company of her baes Niharika Dutt and Muskkaan Jaferi.

Edited excerpts from the interview

There is a line in the show that goes like ‘In a world of fakes, be a Birkin.’ What does that mean to each of you?

Ananya: Oh, wow. That’s a heavy question.

Niharika: He opens with like a heavy one. I think, it just means that no matter how strange other people might think you are, I think be as authentic as you are and you will always shine.

Ananya: I would say, set the regard for yourself very high. Like, make sure everyone, like, respects you and, like, have that high command.

Muskkaan: Value yourself, respect yourself a lot, and even if you’re in Ajuba, you’re a great Ajuba.

Ananya, I want to ask you that your character migrates from Delhi to Bombay. So I want to ask you how different is the culture of both the cities, and how much do you feel your character changes as soon as she enters a new city?

For my character Bae, I think for her, the big difference was that she lived such a protected and privileged life, you know, very slow life where everything was just happening around her. She didn’t have to do anything, you know, her life had been chopped out and planned out by her mother for her, but then when she had to move to Mumbai she kind of had to really learn how to hustle, she had to find her identity, find out what she likes and not what her mother has decided that she should like and just kind of make her own friends.

Because she didn’t really have friends growing up. You know, this was a part of me writing Bey’s backstory. She didn’t really have any real friends. She actually had to find her tribe and her people and her friends when she came to Mumbai.

Niharika, you have acted in Paatal Lok, which was a fantastic show, fantastic performance. Another common factor is journalism. This show also dabbles with journalism. It’s about a battle between facts and sensationalism. How much have you seen journalism change? Have you seen any changes in journalism?

I’ll ask you because you’re a journalist with Firstpost. Don’t you think journalism has changed a lot? I mean, it’s changed a lot in in front of our eyes. I think the advent of social media has changed it a lot, as well as, like, you know, now we don’t know what is real or fake anymore. And so we are very happy that there are channels which help us fact check a lot of that news. But, yeah, what would you say about that?

I feel, yes, it’s all about traction and page views these days. Not about fact checking.

Ananya, I want to ask you, if Ahana from Kho Gaye Hum Kahan and Bay from Call Me Bay had a discussion about social media, what do you feel they would talk.

Oh god. I think the zone that Ahana was in in her life, she could really, you know, use a few tips from Bay because Bay is very, you know, cheap. She’s a go getter and she like, hypes her friends up, and she has, like, her social media game on point. So I think Ahana would have gotten over her breakup much faster if Bey was in her life, for sure.

Muskaan, I really like your chemistry with Ananya. How did you both catch the Sur of the characters and the show?

I think we harmonized. Then first day, we were, like, singing together. We would just play all of us, actually. I like for every part, I do a lot of like writing work because I feel like it really helps. So I make very extensive lists about everything and using the script as the bible, which also makes me read the script as many times as possible. And then you throw the script out of the window and then you go and see what everyone else is doing. So, honestly, a lot of Tamara was built on set because, yeah, once you read set, you realize that everyone’s playing their character so interestingly and then you sort of play play off of them.

So was there any improvisation that happened during the shoot?

Ananya : A lot, because the writing was very, very solid. And with the lines, we didn’t feel the need to change them much. But with the physicality, there was a lot of improvisation like Muskkaan came up with the hashtag Behen Code, she came up with that. And I think just because it’s such a high energy show, I think we all realize we have to also operate on a higher level. We like meeting each other. It was like a hug and a like a squeal. So we got all of that on set.

I want to ask you about your chemistry with the character of Prince. It all happens because you actually explode in one scene. You tell your husband ‘A chandelier actually got more attention than me in the house.’ So do you feel loneliness can actually make people take such drastic steps?

Sometimes, it may just seem like it’s one thing, like, oh, she felt alone, but sometimes it’s like a build up of things. With Bae’s character, they were just pushed into this life together because both of their parents had decided that they need to be with these ideal partners, but actually they were just kids, and they didn’t really know what they wanted. Maybe if they met later on in life, you never know. It could have worked out between them. So sometimes you can’t just put one reason behind something.

While watching the show, I could feel that you are enjoying your privilege, but also taking pot-shots at it at the same time. It was like watching Kareena and Kajol wrapped into one character from K3G. How would you describe this character of Bella?

I did have a lot of fun playing the character because she’s nothing like I’ve ever done before or experienced before because she’s just operating on some other level. Even when people ask me to describe her, I say that she’s a mix of so many characters but at the end of the day, she’s also very original to what she is, she’s fearless and fun and she is so, easy with people making fun of her and like owning that space and kind of getting her confidence in that that that’s something.