It is well known by now that actor Ananya Panday will star in a long-form series titled Call Me Bae. However, from what we have heard, she will be romancing not one but four guys in that series. And one of them happens to be reality TV star Varun Sood.

A source close to the production house states, “Varun plays a gym trainer in the series. This is supposed to be Varun’s big-ticket project. Several actors auditioned for this part; however, it was Varun who landed this character. He will soon sign the dotted line.”

This won’t be Sood’s digital debut, as he was previously seen the 2017 web series in Ragini MMS Returns, and on the big screen, he starred in JugJugg Jeeyo.

While the search for the other guys continues, we have learnt that the team approached actor-jewellery designer Neelam Kothari Soni to play Panday’s on screen mother, but she apparently declined! Interestingly, Soni is close friends with Panday’s mum, Bhavana.

Meanwhile, a source clarifies: “She (Soni) didn’t say it in so many words that she doesn’t want to play a mother, but we all are assuming that is the reason. We’re currently looking for additional actors.”

And when we reached out to Soni, she had another story to share: “Things are at a very preliminary stage. I’ve not even read the script yet. All I know is that I’ve been offered to play Ananya’s mother. I’ve not accepted or denied it yet. It would be amazing to play her (on screen) mum.”

Sood, on the other hand, denied commenting on the matter.