There are movies that run on in depth analysis and make you introspect, after which there are others that do not have an oz of practicality and make it to the viewers’s responsible pleasure watchlist. Prime Video’s newest authentic sequence, Call Me Bae, falls into the latter class. It is basically the story of an uber-rich Bella “Bae” Chowdhary, who has been disowned by her household and is now attempting to restart her life from scratch in Mumbai.
Sounds acquainted? Well, that is as a result of now we have seen the storyline hundreds of thousands of occasions throughout genres. Call Me Bae closely borrows parts from comparable works completed up to now, together with Schitt’s Creek, 2 Broke Girls, and Sonam Kapoor’s Aisha. It would remind you of Kareena Kapoor Khan’s fashion-conscious Poo from Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham…, or Legally Bloonde’s sorority queen-turned-Harvard-educated-lawyer Reese Witherspoon on a couple of event. This is the basic trope of a seemingly air-headed woman who is predicted to not have brains however finally ends up being a genius.
Storyline
Panday’s character is disowned by her uber-rich household after she is caught dishonest on her husband
If I have been to offer it straight, Call Me Bae falls according to typical high-school teenage dramas, which run excessive on delusion and at all times have comfortable endings. Remember how Hannah Montana fooled everybody with only a wig and Selena Gomez’s magic world in Wizards of Waverly Place? The solely distinction right here is that this Prime Video authentic is about in present occasions, and in contrast to earlier works, it extensively incorporates the omnipresent world of social media – and, after all, a better price range.
Call Me Bae begins with Ananya Panday’s uber-rich Bella “Bae” Chowdhary being thrown out of her Delhi mansion in drenching rain. Used to being flown in choppers, heading to Rome for a superb pizza, or gifting cricket groups to family members, she is now doomed. With none of her family and friends prepared to assist, it is simply her and her Gucci suitcases, crammed with hundreds of thousands of {dollars} price of outfits and equipment, towards the world now. Determined to show her destiny, our protagonist decides to rebuild her life from scratch in Mumbai. Across the subsequent seven episodes, we see her attempting to regulate to poverty and rewrite her life story. [Needless to say, she succeeds, sticking to the fairy tale format of the show!]
The princess-turned-pauper experiences lots of firsts: staying in a hostel, cleansing up after herself, consuming white bread, which she thought had gone extinct, and experiencing a roof leakage. She boards an auto-rikshaw for the primary time and goes on to label it as a breezier model of Mini Coopers: a comparability I’m going to feed my anxious mind each time month-to-month budgets lay low.
Even when she misses her earlier life and worries in regards to the future, she offers her new life an sincere likelihood and stays optimistic. The better part? She does not ditch away her generosity, kindness, and religion in humanity. She’d provide you with second probabilities, combat on your friendship, and name a spade for a spade.
Call Me Bae is filled with witty popular culture references and bling
Bae’s character has been written to tug you from the slap-in-the-face actuality of the world and restore your religion within the little good left on the planet.
Although, if there have been a debate on the sequence, lots of theorists would possibly counsel that on some stage, Bae at all times knew her household would finally have her again, and he or she is on her method to get pleasure from pseudo-poverty, an idea the place the rich ditch their luxuries quickly to have a brand new expertise of how regular folks reside; for sheer leisure or a self-discovery facade. Well, in case you’re anticipating practicality in Karan Johar’s works, that is on you.
As at all times, Johar has added fairly a cinematic extravagance, and every little thing is conveniently falling into place for our protagonist. Nevertheless, the sequence made me smile a number of occasions. Sometimes, a reminder of how good issues can flip served with a facet of hope is simply what we want, and Panday’s sequence did it for me. From her behen code (the sister code that makes you prioritise your feminine pals) to a easy acknowledgement of being a flawed human and but deserving good issues, these uplifting tropes felt reassuring.
Although had the present been even barely linked with actuality, issues would have gone horribly unsuitable for our damsel. In a tanking financial situation the place persons are sticking to their poisonous jobs due to a crashed market, Bae is getting a well-paid internship at a prestigious information channel. That too when her resume is only a compilation of eccentric programs like the best way to talk together with your spirit animal, psychic vegan cheese and wine pairing, moral emerald jewelry design, cyberfeminism, the best way to change the world one tweet at a time, underwater basket weaving – the listing goes on. If solely we may change to this universe!
Ananya Panday’s Bae has completed loads of quirky programs within the present comparable to “the best way to change the world one tweet at a time”
To attraction to the Instagram-addicted younger viewers, Call Me Bae floods the viewers with popular culture references that may not curiosity somebody not aware of them. But in case you are up to date with the most recent traits that catch the flowery of the youth, be up for an amusing stretch of streaming.
There are references to Jay-Z-Beyonce’s divorce, Jimmy Kimmel’s post-Oscars events, and even Fifty Shades of Grey. Panday even quotes Joey Tribbinani’s in style dialogue from the American sitcom F.R.I.E.N.D.S: A second in your lips, endlessly on the hips. Probably, for this reason Prime Video has particularly categorised the present for the “younger grownup viewers”.
Anyway. I used to be significantly impressed by how the present skillfully captured the essence of social media in a playful and relatable approach, successfully conveying its pervasive presence in our lives. Whenever a personality posts on-line, small emojis fly on our display screen, and their Google searches are proven with a particular pop-up, making the characters’ on-line experiences really feel intimately acquainted. The modifying right here is sort of spectacular. Panday’s Netflix movie, Kho Gaye Hum Kahan, which revolved extensively on the topic, had additionally excelled within the illustration.
However, Call Me Bae is not nearly jaw-dropping vogue selections, social media, and popular culture. It barely touches upon delicate topics like loneliness and the affect of childhood neglect. Not an ideal job there, although. While the ache of her beforehand golden-caged life resonates properly throughout the screens, the seriousness of the problem is criminally undermined. The lukewarm illustration shies away from the darkish features and fails to acknowledge it as a probably life-threatening subject.
We see the in any other case bubbly Bae teary and speaking to her purses – whom she has named – and hanging onto each alternative to speak to a different human, even when s/he’s a homeless prison in jail. She strives for the validation of strangers on the Internet by posting even the tiniest updates of her life on-line. But that is all. And oh, by the best way, she has completed loads of eccentric programs too: the best way to talk together with your spirit animal, psychic vegan cheese and wine pairing, moral emerald jewelry design, the best way to change the world one tweet at a time, underwater basket weaving – the listing goes on. However, Johar’s sequence refrains from overlaying a lot darker features of loneliness, choosing a a lot lukewarm illustration of the intense subject.
Characters
As per Karan Johar, Ananya Panday’s Bae is the modern-day equal of Poo from Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham
Although, the sequence does take a severe dig at modern journalism, particularly tv journalism. The message is loud and clear: precise journalism is on the verge of extinction. We see proficient journalists not being allowed to take up precise tales of substance – just because they do not have a sensational angle to them. There is a junior reporter dressing up as leopards and ghosts for a present as a substitute of doing one thing fruitful. What a metaphorical illustration of the circus that some information channels have diminished to in the present day! There is even {a magazine} cowl with a blurb that reads, “What to put on once you’re caught dishonest”. Christ!
Stand-up comic Vir Das right here shines as a narcissistic journalist who believes the nation is a “beast” desirous to feed on sensationalism. He would shamelessly disclose folks’s private lives on nationwide tv and enlarge irrelevant info in his experiences so as to add the spice. For him Pakistan spells D-R-A-M-A and workplace apparel features a lux coat and a boxer. (Somebody, please remind him that the work-from-home days are over, and it is not a mid-day Zoom assembly.) His speak reveals low cost information tickers learn “Our reality is best than your reality” and “This subject wants a tissue”.
In a scene, he shouts, “Mujhe medicine do” [give me drugs] whereas alleging a wrestler of being doped earlier than a match. Reminded of somebody? Well, now we have particular journalists who love harassing folks on their reveals within the title of a nation desirous to know. Shouldn’t be that tough to guess. The satirical portrayal is on level.
Contrarily, Das has by no means been shy about voicing his opinion on the rotting political state of the nation and the horrendous position of unethical journalists fueling the decay, in actual life. He appears to have discovered the right approach of channelling his frustration by way of Call Me Bae, particularly after he was banned beforehand from sure states in India for his supposed anti-nation sentiments in a Netflix Comedy Special for which he later gained an Emmy.
The sequence additionally has a quick cameo by impartial journalist Faye Desouza, who’s seen giving heartful recommendation to severe journalists ditching tv in the event that they need to make an precise distinction. Dsouza, too, is understood for being brutally sincere in regards to the barbaric decay of journalistic ethics, and her temporary stint within the present makes excellent sense.
Call Me Bae Review: Verdict
Call Me Bae fares properly as a feel-good sequence the place practicality is changed by fairy-tale model of life
Ananya Panday’s sequence may not break new floor or dive deep into advanced themes. In truth, it’s predictable, tacky, and overstuffed with plotholes that’ll make you sigh. Acknowledged. But that is precisely what makes it a enjoyable, senseless watch. Call Me Bae’s tone is overly enthusiastic, unrealistically optimistic, and completely dreamy, identical to its delusional protagonist. It’s a present that you simply flip to once you need your mind cells to relaxation and feed on senseless comedy. Don’t anticipate a cerebral or visceral expertise; Call Me Bae by no means promised to be one. We have loads of these movies and reveals already. Call Me Bae is a fantasy world the place every little thing falls into place, and our protagonist finds overly supportive strangers who turn into her finest pals in a surprisingly quick span of time. It’s a Karan Johar-esque romp, borrowing the very best bits from his earlier works. While it is no cinematic masterpiece, Call Me Bae has its distinctive beat. It’s a unusual, delusional, and endearingly optimistic story that creates a bubble of its personal.
Rating: 8/10
