Amazon Prime’s Call Me Bae is a mediocre watch, makes one call for a painkiller instead
Call Me Bae is a wasted attempt at giving us a feel-good drama, the dearth of which is felt amidst the rising number of blood-and-gore fueled content.
Apologies for bringing in a film as iconic as The Truman Show (1998), revolving around a character played by Jim Carrey. His whole life is a reality show, filmed by cameras. He remains unaware of it.
Call Me Bae feels similar on the surface, because Bella Choudhary’s (played by Ananya Panday) life seems as fake. Her problems are momentary, she doesn’t have to struggle for anything, heck even the “Mumbai life” we are shown is limited to an alarmingly colourful hostel, and a vada pav vendor. Much like the set of a scripted reality show.
The story
It’s about Bae, mentored by her mother (Mini Mathur) to marry rich in life, and ditch her dreams. One day, she cheats on her billionaire husband Agastya (played by a dull Vihaan Samat), and her family disowns her. How she comes into her own is the rest of the story. And the makers even bring in the #MeToo movement. Yes, there’s every effort made to appear #woke. Alas, it’s all airy froth with absolutely #nosubstance.
What doesn’t work
The show, directed by Collin D’Cunha, is amateur, and you desperately want it to pick up pace. After a cracker of a first episode, there’s hope about a fun watch ahead. An attempt is made to humanise Bae (as Bella likes to call herself) by making us believe (repeatedly) that she feels lonely, both as a child and as a wife, nudging her towards bad decisions. All in an effort to make them notice her. What follows is #cringe.
The writers (Ishita Moitra, coming off the brilliant Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani, with Samina Motlekar, Rohit Nair) have written some very unimaginative sequences, which do nothing to salvage the situation. Sample this: Ananya’s character dresses up as an owl to cheer up a depressed owl in an animal care centre. A rant video goes viral on social media overnight- the next morning people are watching it while jogging, driving auto rickshaws… um, #socialmediadoesn’tworklikethis.
Bae teaches her boss Neel (Gurfateh Pirzada) how to use hashtags, and boom! His very next tweet goes viral. Get the point and comparison with Truman? Everything happens in an instant in Bae’s world. You want a taxi? Boom, it’s here. Sadly, that’s not how the world- or a good show- work. Another difference between the show and Truman lies here- you aren’t invested in a single character in Call Me Bae, unlike the film.
To people who will defend the show by saying ‘that’s how masala films work!’-No, spearheading such films, which go on to become hits, are actors who know how to make it work. They might falter on the acting front, but they pull it off with their charisma.
The actors in Call Me Bae just don’t know what to do, and appear clueless. Ananya, in the titular role, falls flat while wearing her expensive heels. Be it an emotional scene where she is trying to apologise to her hurt husband, or her quest to investigate a high profile case as a journalist- there’s nothing from her side. Vir Das, playing an anchor inspired by a real life one, tries hard but is let down by the mediocre screenplay. Mini Mathur as Bae’s mom has no character arc. Sayani Gupta is wasted in the role of a famous actor.
A small observation: filmmakers are obsessed today with confrontation scenes- and resorting to a handheld shot for that raw feel. Call Me Bae tries it as well- but how much can a camera do when the subjects have no chemistry or tension between them?
Call Me Bae is a wasted opportunity to give us a feel-good, light hearted drama, the dearth of which is felt amidst the rising number of blood-and-gore fueled content.
What works
Okay, enough with the brickbats. There are also things that work. “Aapki majboori jahaan shuru hoti hai vahaan tak pahaunchna hi toh hamara sapna hai,” says a character.
“Where have I heard that one before?,” replies Ananya, much to my delight.
That’s pretty much it. #toodles